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

Crushed stone is angular and has been screened to a set size. Minus grades keep the crusher fines, so they compact and hold; clean grades are washed, so they drain. Natural Pea Gravel is rounded and washed, so it will not compact and should be edged where it can wander.

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

Either works, and Washington Rock Supply takes both. Order by the ton when you are buying crushed rock or sand that is weighed out, and by the yard when you are working from a volume. Each product page has a calculator to help you size the load before checkout.

Which stone is best for drainage in Lincoln County?

Start with drain rock, also called 7/8 clean or washed rock. It is washed with no fines, so it keeps its voids where a perched water table sits on till. For trench backfill and pipe surround, 3/4 clean is the washed counterpart to a minus product, so it drains rather than compacting.

Lincoln County, WA Aggregate and Rock Delivery

Washington Rock Supply handles gravel, stone and aggregate delivery in Lincoln County, WA. If you are building a drive, a parking pad or a shed slab here, 5/8 minus is the material to start with.

It is crushed rock with the fines left in, so it packs hard and sheds water instead of soaking it up.

The county sits on the Columbia Basin, Yakima Valley and the channeled scablands side of the state. Windblown loess covers Columbia River basalt, and where the Ice Age floods ran, the loess was stripped off and the basalt left bare.

Ground Conditions Across Lincoln County

The working season here runs long on either side of a hard winter. Eastern Washington's wet weather season for erosion control runs October 1 through June 30.

Once snow falls or the ground freezes, placing and compacting base material stops being practical.

Water arrives in two very different ways across this part of the state. Parts of the basin take only seven to nine inches of rain a year, so the ground is dry and loose.

When a thunderstorm or a rapid thaw does land, the silt sheds water rather than absorbing it.

Where flood gravel sits at the surface, water disappears straight down instead. That split matters for how you build.

A site over flood gravel drains on its own, while a site on deep silt needs a drainage layer under the granular course.

Erosion comes from wind off bare, dry silt and from short violent runoff cutting rills and gullies when a cloudburst lands on ground with no cover. Irrigation runoff moves soil too.

Frost heave in an unbound base is something to design for on this side of the state. The ground freezes properly here, unlike west of the Cascades.

Frost depth is set by the county or city building department and runs deeper with elevation.

Materials Delivered in Lincoln County

That section sets two gradings: base course with a 1 1/4 inch top size, and top course with a 5/8 inch top size.

Contractors and quarries shorten those to CSBC and CSTC, and order them as 1 1/4 minus and 5/8 minus.

Give 5/8 minus the most thought, because it is the course most drives and pads finish on. It is ordered as crushed surfacing top course, CSTC, or 5/8 inch minus.

The fines are the point: they bind the rock into a surface that holds together and sheds water.

Below it, 1 1/4 minus is the structural course, known as crushed surfacing base course, CSBC, or base course. It goes under a 5/8 minus top course.

For wet ground, drain rock, also called 7/8 clean or washed rock, keeps its voids where water perches.

Choosing the Right Material

Lincoln County shares its ground region with Grant County. Both sit on the Columbia Basin, Yakima Valley and the channeled scablands ground, where windblown loess covers Columbia River basalt and the Ice Age floods stripped the silt off in places and left sand and gravel bars behind.

Spokane County and Stevens County each span more than one ground region, including Spokane and the Selkirk foothills. Their ground is not the same as the loess and basalt here, so base and drainage choices do not carry straight across.

The minus and clean split is the decision that matters most. A minus product such as 5/8 minus or crusher dust has the crusher fines left in, so it compacts and holds as a surface or a setting bed.

A clean product such as 3/8 clean or 3/4 clean has been washed, so it drains instead of compacting. Use clean stone for trench backfill, pipe surround and drainage runs, and minus stone where you want a firm, bound surface.

Rounded stone behaves differently again. Natural Pea Gravel and river rock do not lock together, so they suit play areas, beds and splash pads rather than a drive.

Delivery Across Lincoln County

Washington Rock Supply delivers bulk material across the county, including Davenport, Wilbur, Odessa, Sprague, Reardan, Harrington, Almira, Creston, Edwall, Lamona, Lincoln and Mohler.

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

At checkout you pick a delivery date.

A dump truck tips the load in one pile on site. Plan where that pile should land before the truck arrives.

Order Gravel, Stone and Soil for Lincoln County

Washington Rock Supply delivers bulk gravel, crushed stone, sand, topsoil and aggregates across Lincoln County, from Davenport and Wilbur to Odessa, Sprague and Reardan. Order online, size the load by the ton or the yard, and pick your delivery date at checkout.

Gravel, Stone and Soil for Lincoln County, WA