Part of a plan to render the company self-sufficient, Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company purchased over 313,000 acres of timberland and two iron mines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the early 1920s. Construction of a sawmill was followed by a hydro-electric plant and drying kilns, making the facility the largest sawmill complex in the world. Ford also built a chemical plant, airfield, and new homes to attract employees. The Iron Mountain plant supplied automobile body parts and wood patterns for the production of aircraft, ships, railroad cars, and mining trams. The chemical distillery turned scrap wood into formaldehyde. Scrap wood was used to produce charcoal briquettes. In 1930, the plant was expanded to take over as the assembly plant for station wagons. During World War II the plant was retooled to produce wooden gliders for the United States Army. After the war, production of station wagons was resumed, along with the production of convertible roadsters. By 1951, however, more and more steel was used for automobile bodies, and in 1951, the plant was closed.
From the description of Northern Michigan operations photographs series, 1920-1951 (bulk 1949-1951). (The Henry Ford). WorldCat record id: 55795127
