Location: Cliffs Dow Chemical Co., Marquette, Mi

Built → Pioneer Iron Co. → Cliffs-Dow Chemical Co. → Georgia Pacific → Closed

Cliffs Dow was located along Marquette Bay between downtown Marquette and the LS&I Presque Isle dock and coal dock. This company was formed in 1935 to take over the Cliff's wood chemical business. It was 60% owned by Dow Chemical and 40% by Cleveland-Cliffs.

Notes

This was the former site of CCI's charcoal blast furnaces.

The facility made wood tar/creosote, acetic acid, methyl alcohol, acetone, formaldehyde and lime acetate from forest products harvested from Cliffs vast forest holdings. It was served by the LS&I.

The plant was purchased by Georgia-Pacific in 1968 and then closed in 1969. It remains a Superfund cleanup site. [LSI2]

Cliffs operated a blast furnace at this location which produced pig iron from 1903 to 1933. [LSJ-1962-0812]

Time Line

1903. The Cleveland Cliffs Iron Mining Company began operation of this charcoal pig iron plant in North Marquette under the name Pioneer Iron Company. The plant was previously owned and operated by the Pioneer Iron Mining Company. The plant continued to produce charcoal and engage in the distillation of wood after 1903. In 1935, the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Mining Company and The Dow Chemical Company formed the Cliffs - Dow Chemical Company. The new company took over the plant to begin the Scholler process for acid hydrolysis of wood to make ethyl alcohol, also known as ethanol. The plant ceased operation in 1969 after Royal Oak Charcoal Company, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, bought the business in 1968. The records for this company are maintained in the archives at Northern Michigan University.

1964. At a hearing before the ICC on the Soo Line request for trackage rights on the LS&I between Marquette and Eben Junction, Robert W. Jenner, President of the Cliffs Dow Chemical Co. testified that his company (on the north edge of Marquette on the lake) is served by the LS&I with a switching connection to the Soo Line and they are not satisfied with present rail service. In 1963, Cliffs-Dow shipped more than 900 carloads of freight. Because charcoal briquets, manufactured at their plant, must be shipped at more than twice the rate of production during the period from April to July, fast rail service and the availability of cars are important. "Business is being lost to competitors in major markets because some competitors have faster delivery", he said. Benefits of the proposed trackage rights include at least one-day faster service to Chicago area markets, daily freight service south from Marquette rather than three times a week, and faster availability of inbound empty cars, he said. "Cliffs Dow may retain as much as 25 cars of present business per year that is in danger of loss by giving customers better service and its possible that as much as 50 cars per year of new business may be generated by better service if the Soo Line is granted the trackage rights from Marquette to Eben," he said. It may be possible to switch as much as 25 cars per year from truck to rail, he added. [EDP-1964-0320]