What is the difference between crushed stone and Natural Pea Gravel?

Crushed stone has angular, broken faces from crushing, so it interlocks and stays put under a load. Natural Pea Gravel is rounded, washed stone at about 3/8 inch, which flows and shifts instead of locking. Crushed stone suits drainage beds, pipe bedding and bases; Natural Pea Gravel suits walkways, play areas and dog runs.

Should I order material by the ton or by the yard?

Both work, and the choice usually comes down to how you are used to figuring a load. Order by the ton when you are working from a weight, and by the yard when you are working from a volume. Each product page has a calculator if you want to size the load.

Which stone is best for drainage in Madison County?

Washed rock is the one for French drains, curtain drains, foundation drains and downspout runs, because washing the fines out is the whole point. For drainage beds, pipe bedding and construction entrances, 3/4 inch crushed stone works. Both are clean, open stone that lets water move.

Gravel, Soil and Stone for Madison County, MT

Montana Rock Supply handles gravel, stone and aggregate delivery in Madison County, MT. If you are building a drive, a shop pad or a drainage run, the first question is usually which material to order.

Start with crushed base course, the standard Montana base material, usually ordered by top size as 3/4 minus. The valley floors here carry gravelly alluvium and outwash, with clay-rich fill in places.

Materials Delivered in Madison County

Crushed base course is the base material for drives, shop pads, parking areas and shed bases. In Montana it is specified as crushed base course.

The MDT Standard Specifications cover it under Section 701.02.4, where grades are named by nominal top size. Grade 5A is 2 inch minus and Grade 6A is 1 1/2 inch minus, with a 3/4 inch minus grade, 7A, developed as pit sources for the larger sizes ran short.

City and county work is more often written against Section 02235, Crushed Base Course, of the Montana Public Works Standard Specifications. County road standards call sizes out the same way, as 3 inch minus sub-base and 1 inch minus crushed base or top course.

Those numbers describe how material is specified locally.

Around those, Montana Rock Supply also delivers 3/8" Natural Pea Gravel for walkways and play areas, Yellowstone River Rock for decorative beds and dry creek beds, and Washed Sand for bedding under flatwork and pavers.

Ground Conditions Across Madison County

The working season is short. On the valley floors, base, driveway and paver work runs from late spring into early autumn, and shorter again on high ground.

Across the Southwest and south-central mountain valleys, the ground is gravelly alluvium and outwash on the basin floors, clay-rich basin fill in places, and thin stony soils over rock on the ranges that ring them.

Gravel basin fill takes water readily. Clay-rich basin fill does not, so a drive or pad on clay needs a drainage layer where a gravelly site may not.

Water arrives as snowmelt off the Great Divide, sudden summer thunderstorms on dry ground, and irrigation ditches crossing valley floors. Spring runoff and bank scour drive the erosion work in this part of the state.

Hard overnight freezing with a daytime thaw runs through much of the year at these elevations. Frost heave in drives and roads is a normal condition here, not only a spring event.

Footing depth is set by the local building department, so check with them before you plan anything structural.

Delivery Across Madison County

Montana Rock Supply delivers bulk gravel, stone, sand and soil across Madison County. Coverage includes Sheridan, Ennis, Twin Bridges, Silver Star, Norris and Cameron.

You order online. Quantities are ordered by the ton or by the yard, and each product page has a calculator if you want to size the load.

Pick a delivery date at checkout. A dump truck then tips the load on site as one pile.

Choosing the Right Material

Gallatin County and Jefferson County share Madison County's ground region. The gravelly alluvium, the clay-rich basin fill in places, and the thin stony soils over rock are the same story, so the base and drainage choices carry over unchanged.

Silver Bow County sits in Southwest Montana and shares that same ground region. Nothing about the ground itself changes the material choice.

What changes the choice is the job. A drive or shop pad takes crushed base course, ordered by top size as 3/4 minus.

A deep fill or a raise in grade takes pit run underneath.

A drive surface takes road mix, which carries the fines and clay binder that pack hard. A drain, a downspout run or a foundation drain takes washed rock, where the washed-out fines are the point.

Paver and flagstone bedding takes crusher fines. Rounded stone for walkways and beds takes Natural Pea Gravel or river rock, and slope work against runoff takes riprap.

Order Gravel, Stone and Soil for Madison County

Montana Rock Supply delivers bulk gravel, stone, sand, topsoil and aggregates across Madison County, from Sheridan and Ennis to Twin Bridges, Silver Star, Norris and Cameron.

Order online by the ton or by the yard, size the load with the calculator on any product page, and pick your delivery date at checkout.

Gravel, Stone and Soil for Madison County, MT