The Elk Rapids Iron Company began operations at this location in 1873. The base of the smelting furnace remains here, and a tall rectangular elevator tower was used to dump iron ore, limestone, and charcoal into the furnace. Operations ceased in 1915 because of the economic conditions of the time and more modern methods of producing charcoal pig iron. A chemical plant at the extreme upper left began operations in 1881, producing acetate of lime and wood alcohol. White round kilns were used to produce charcoal, and it could take a team of men eight hours to fill one with stacked wood. In the right foreground stood the company boarding house known as the beehive, with an outhouse behind it, and to the lower left was a cluster of small homes known as Swede Town.