Land Clearing in Rector, AR

Land Clearing on the Crowley's Ridge Side of Rector

Rector sits in southeastern Clay County, on the southeastern edge of Crowley's Ridge. The ridge crosses the county from southwest to northeast. Even so, most of Clay County is bottomland, and upland makes up only about 22 percent of it.

The ridge is capped with loess, which erodes very easily. Its soils need a cover of some kind, such as pasture grass or forest, to hold against erosion. The ridge woods are a mixed forest of oak and hickory, with some less common hardwoods. On a ridge lot near Rector, bare dirt is what you want to avoid.

Our drum mulcher grinds brush, saplings and small trees, and the mulch stays on the ground as cover. On a house, shop or barn site, lot clearing adds rough grading with the skid steer. The builder's excavator digs the foundation from there. We look at any larger timber with you on the estimate.

How Did the Land Around Rector Get Cleared the First Time?

The Rector area was once covered by virgin timber. Little of it was cleared in the early 1800s, because wagons were the only transportation. Until the railroad came, settlers cleared it mainly for buildings and to make room for crops, pasture and gardens.

Rector was platted in 1882 as a railroad town on the Cotton Belt line, and it was incorporated in 1887. Several of its founding families had lived in Scatterville, about two miles northwest, before moving to Rector. The town takes its name from Governor Henry Massey Rector.

Rector and the land around it have long served for timber harvest and agriculture. Today, agriculture and gravel mining help support the area. Local crops include rice, wheat and cotton, and cattle and horses are raised here too. Ground cleared long ago still fills back in with brush where nobody keeps it cut.

Pasture, Fence Rows and Hunting Ground Near Rector

Left uncut, a pasture or fence row around Rector fills in with brush and saplings. Pasture and fence line clearing grinds that growth down with the drum mulcher. A cleared fence line is ready for a new fence, and a fencing contractor takes it from there.

On the flat farm ground, brush tends to take hold on ditch banks and field edges. Bush hogging with the brush cutter knocks down tall grass, weeds, briars and light brush. A pass each fall helps keep a cleared edge from filling back in.

The countryside around Rector offers hunting and fishing. On your own hunting ground, the drum mulcher can cut shooting lanes and trails through brush and saplings. Around a house, barn or shed, brush clearing takes out thickets and vines. What has to leave goes out on the dump trailer.

When a storm drops trees and limbs across a drive or a fence, storm cleanup opens it back up. We cut up the debris, grapple it into piles and haul it off on the dump trailer.

From Monette to Rector on US 49

The drive from Monette runs AR 18 west to Lake City, then AR 135 north to Paragould. From there, US 49 heads northeast across rural Greene County. It meets AR 34 in Marmaduke, 7 miles southwest of Rector, and then AR 90 in Rector. As the crow flies, Rector is about 24 miles from Monette.

In the south part of town, AR 90 runs as Main Street and meets US 49. Rector Memorial Park, on US 49, hosts the annual Labor Day celebration. It began in 1941 and has grown from one day to four, with a rodeo and a parade. The Rector Community Museum opened in 2019.

On its 13-mile run from Rector to Piggott, US 49 turns north at Hargrave Corner. West of town, AR 90 heads past Boydsville and on to AR 135, east of Knobel. Clay County has two county seats, Piggott and Corning.

On a gravel driveway, we spread and grade the gravel with the skid steer and crown it to shed rain. A new entrance onto US 49, AR 90 or a county road may need a permit first. ARDOT, the county or the city sets that, and we point you to the right office. Anyone who will disturb the ground has to contact Arkansas 811 before the dirt work starts.