A handful of communities in the central and western Upper Peninsula (U.P.) might have a rocky future—and that's good news to many.
The state recently commissioned a $150,000 study to look at quarry opportunities in the face of growing demand for granite, sandstone and marble for residential and commercial buildings. The final report identified 11 potential stone and rock sources in the U.P., many of them old quarries that have been idle for many decades. In the early 1900s, there were as many as 30 active quarries in the U.P., but currently there are none.
The report said the reopening of eight or nine quarries could bring as many as 200 quarry jobs, along with the potential for spin-off jobs in processing bulk stone and rock into various consumer products, like countertops and other items for a growing home-building market.
