Quarry Builds Dock, Envisions Expanded River Service

Ray County Stone operates a quarry about 25 miles east of Kansas City, Mo. To expand its river business, it recently built a barge docking area on the Missouri River at Mile 342 and has been operating it for two seasons. Located 12 miles west of the quarry on Missouri Highway 210, the docking area is located within the Kansas City commercial weight zone, allowing certain loads heavier than in other rural areas the ability to legally come and go without special permitting.

“We hope to have the ability soon to keep it operating year-round,” said Jeremy Greer, owner of Ray County Stone and The Dock at 342, as it is known.

Stone Contracts

Ray County Stone is currently using the dock to service its contract for nearly 800,000 tons of stone provided to Michels Construction. It also sells rock to the Corps of Engineers for riprap and bank stabilization and can load crushed rock for barge transport.

The company’s plans include adding a crane, building a seawall and constructing a large working platform, allowing the ability to handle inbound as well as outbound and oversized freight.

“I have always tried to focus on and specialize in things that not everyone is doing,” Greer said. “Our No. 1 focus has always been customer service and material quality, and we plan to run our river dock in the same manner. I plan to be able to handle more than one barge at a time, which would allow our quarry operation the ability to load material as well as the dock operation to be able to handle freight simultaneously.”

“This has always been a vision of mine to broaden our market into areas where others may not be focusing. Our core business of course is our quarry operation. However, by adding our docking area, it will open the door for our family to other opportunities up and down the Missouri River and into other markets as well.”