Pit & Quarry, June 2014

the land acquisition and permitting and agreements worked out with the railroad It has been a pretty good pace to get it all together in this amount of time Integrating the railroad into the quarry operation is not a surprising move for Trap Rock and Granite Quarries Sam Beelman president represents the third generation of his family to oversee commercial enterprises in southeast Missouri and across the Mississippi River in southwest Illinois For most of the last century trucking transferring materials between rail truck and barge and marketing rock and ready mix concrete have been complementary Beelman Truck Co headquartered in East St Louis Ill has five aggregate operations divisions of the companys work Beelmans grandfather Frank Beelman Sr founded Beelman Truck Co in 1906 hauling ice and coal in horse drawn wagons Frank Beelman Jr led the company into supplying material for interstate construction projects and hauling bulk commodities By the 1930s Beelman trucks were hauling limestone from a quarry that in 2010 the company formally acquired Today Beelman Truck Co with headquarters in East St Louis Ill operates a fleet of 650 trucks hauling dry bulk commodities into 44 states and Ontario It has three river barge terminals on the Mississippi and one northward near Chicago five aggregate operations and 12 ready mix concrete plants The vertical business model still has company quarries supplying aggregate for the trucking fleet to haul The newest quarry contains both granite and trap rock a fairly rare combination that will let the company supply two in demand rock types from the same operation We dont know of any other quarry facility with two high quality hard rock materials not in the Midwest says Sam Beelman It is a very unique deposit and strategically located The materials use Missouri red granite is commonly used for decorative veneer and monuments but its also a superior aggregate for construction and landscaping Missouri trap rock which is a generic term for fine to medium durable aggregate is purple black in color It is akin to granite and is employed similarly Both minerals are composed mostly of silica and aluminum oxides and can be crushed uniformly for diverse applications ranging from railroad ballast 2 in and landscape stone 3 4 in to chips for asphalt and seal coating 3 8 in and baseball warning track material 3 16 in and smaller That a railroad skirts the edge of a trap rock deposit is appropriate because much of the material will be quarried and crushed for the nations railroad systems Railroad ties and tracks rest on ballast that typically is laid 6 in to 20 in deep TRANSPORTATION Industry REMA TIP TOP North America Inc ONE BRAND ONE SOURCE ONE SYSTEM KEEP YOUR ROCKS BEHIND YOUR SKIRT And eliminate costly skirtboard rubber changeouts with REMA TIP TOPs REMASKIRT 50 REMASKIRT 50 C Conveyor Skirt Board Rubber L Longer Lasting Pe Performance Be Better Containment and Sealing Reduced Belt Wear Ask us about our REMASKIRT 50 SATISFACTION GUARANTEE 800334 REMA 7362 www rematiptop com 26 PIT QUARRY June 2014 www pitandquarry com