Mile 168.0 - RBD Bussen Quarries

John Ruskey

20 Apr 2026 � 1 min read

168 RBD Bussen Quarries

The only downside to camping on the Carroll Island is the traffic on the bridge and your loud neighbors across the river at Bussen Quarries. Aggregate is big business on the Middle Mississippi; this quarry is the first of another dozen or so that you will paddle past until leaving the bluff country behind at Commerce.

The Bussen Family started mining limestone at their Jefferson Barracks location in 1882 when Johann Gerhard Bussen purchased a 10 acre parcel of land along the Mississippi River just south of the Quarrentine Grounds and began mining limestone from the hillside. Mining started out slow as the drilling was done by hand and the rock was hand sorted and moved by mule cart. Crushing was originally done by hammermill crushers that were powered by steam wagons. In 1929 the first stationary crushing/screening plant was built and greatly increased production. This plant also had spurs from the Missouri Pacific Rail Road under the bins for easy car loading which in turn increased product distribution. The normal production out put being around 100 tons per hour.. But the enterprising Bussens didn’t stop and removing an entire Mississippi River bluff to help build St. Louis. Like many successful capitalists, they know how to make money from all parts of the pig. They sold the rock. No they are selling the space once occupied by the rock. Today their 600 acre site also provides terminal services for drygoods, and underground warehousing in giant caverns that they carved out of solid rock. Their website states that these cavernous offerings “provide climate control and utilities savings for comfortable working conditions year round. 140,000 square feet of buildout space is still available so call for a quote today on your custom warehouse...”

Although modifications and updates were done to the original plant over the years by the early 60's the need for faster production brought about plans for a new crushing plant. A Missouri-Rogers 56-60 rotary impact crusher was to be the new primary with an average 500-800 tons per hour. In the summer of 2014 Bussen added a Hazmag 1822 rotary impact crusher with a 1600 ton/hour capacity to their production.

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