Tough Jobs Require Tougher Machines: Inside the Equipment at S. McClain Stone

If you’ve ever walked across a beautiful stone patio or admired a set of natural stone steps, there’s a good chance that journey started in a quarry. For companies like S. McClain Stone Co., that journey begins deep in the hills of northeastern Pennsylvania where rock isn’t just extracted, it’s carefully uncovered, shaped, and shipped to become part of someone’s home or building project.

Stacey McClain and his family have owned and operated the company since Stacey’s father started gathering fieldstone out of the woods with a New Holland skid steer in 1979. Since then, the company has grown exponentially. Today, his three children join him in running an operation that’s expanded to include three quarries, a stone finishing site, and a stone yard that houses more than 60 grades of building stone, some from their own quarries and some from other sites.  

“We just keep growing with our customers’ needs,” says Stacey McClain, CEO and owner of the company. “I've been doing this a lot of years, and the more customers have asked me to do for them, the more I grow. In the last six years we’ve probably tripled in size. We try to go above and beyond for our customers. We all take a personal interest in every order we get and try to make sure we're always on the same page as our customer.”

At S. McClain Stone, the process of selling stone doesn’t stop at extraction. The company controls the entire chain from quarry to delivery. The stone is handled carefully every step of the way. And it’s shipped nationwide by S. McClain’s own fleet of trucks from Pennsylvania to as far west as California.

S. McClain Stone is famous for their premium Pennsylvania bluestone, a type of durable sandstone known for its natural blue-gray tones. Pennsylvania bluestone is sought after by landscapers, builders, and architects because it looks high-end but still feels natural and timeless. This unique product is only quarried regionally. “Bluestone is pretty much something you can only get from the Northeast,” says McClain.

The equipment behind the scenes
S. McClain Stone relies on some serious machinery to keep things moving. They started out with New Holland skid steers, and as their company has grown, so has their New Holland equipment fleet.

“I love my New Hollands,” says McClain. “They hold up. I never worry about them. Over the years I feel they’ve passed the true test of time and I know they’ll do the job.”

A fleet of 18 New Holland Construction skid steers and a W80 wheel loader play a vital role in their operation. Skid steers equipped with hydraulic hammers drill and split the stone. The wheel loader and the skid steers equipped with pallet forks and buckets clean and move heavy slabs, some weighing hundreds of pounds. 

Lift capacity, says McClain, is never an issue. According to McClain, “My local dealer is always impressed with what we lift with them. They always exceed the expectations of what they are rated for.” 

In the company’s stone yard, New Holland Construction skid steers with forks move seamlessly through rows of palleted stone, loading them on flatbed trucks destined for customers. Operators must balance speed with careful handling of heavy pallets to avoid damaging valuable stone.

“We’ve got four to six skid steers running around the stone yard unloading and moving pallets all day long. If you watch how fast they load a truck in my yard, it just shows you how well you can see in those machines. Even when you’re putting the forks into the pallet, you can see it so much better than other machines. We do not hesitate to pick the pallets right up and put them on the truck. The skid steers are very well grounded and stable to lift up to 5,000 lbs.,” says McClain.

“Over the years, other dealers wonder why I stick with New Holland,” he continues. “But I'm just that confident with the New Hollands. I can't see any other skid steers working here. When I think of a skid steer, all I think of is New Holland. I won't get any of the others. I can't even imagine doing that.”