LaSalle and Peru are Illinois Valley’s twin cities, sitting where I-39 meets I-80 on the Illinois River. This is the largest and most built-up market Salz Drainage and Excavating serves — a genuine small-city core of roughly 19,500 people, shaped by more than a century of zinc processing, clock manufacturing, and canal-era industry, with the interstate interchange now driving a steady stream of commercial and light-industrial growth.
LaSalle and Peru projects may begin with excavation, demolition, or site preparation.
Salz Drainage and Excavating brings its full range of drainage, excavation, land clearing, and site work services to LaSalle and Peru, covering both cities’ downtown cores, industrial-legacy lots, and surrounding residential neighborhoods.
Yard and foundation drainage in LaSalle and Peru has to account for the bluff that separates the lower riverfront sections from the upland neighborhoods — a property near the old Peru waterfront drains very differently than one up on the bluff, and Salz designs each system accordingly.
Services include: French Drain Installation, Drain Tile Systems, Basement & Foundation Drainage, Yard & Lot Drainage
Basement and foundation excavation on the older lots throughout LaSalle and Peru sometimes turns up fill or foundation conditions left over from the cities’ industrial era, and Salz digs carefully and adjusts the plan when that history shows up underground.
Services include: Basement & Foundation Excavation, Trench Excavation
Lot and site clearing for infill or new residential development around LaSalle and Peru is handled with forestry mulching equipment that clears a site without the disposal cost of a full clear-cut.
Services include: Forestry Mulching, Brush & Underbrush Clearing, Lot & Site Clearing, Pasture & Farm Land Clearing
Residential and commercial demolition is a regular part of Salz’s work in LaSalle and Peru, from older industrial-era structures to standard residential teardowns, with full haul-off included.
Services include: Residential Demolition, Commercial & Structural Demolition, Concrete Removal & Demolition, Pool Removal & Fill-In
Pond construction and excavation is available on larger residential and rural-edge lots around LaSalle and Peru, sized to whatever the property calls for.
Services include: Farm & Stock Pond Construction, Pond Excavation & Dredging, Pond Dams & Spillways
Building pad and site prep work near the I-39/I-80 interchange is graded to commercial standards where the job calls for it, while residential and pole barn site prep on the outskirts of both cities follows standard rural grading practices.
Services include: Land Grading & Leveling, Building Pad & Concrete Prep, Pole Barn & Shed Site Prep
Field tile installation and repair is available on the farmland ringing LaSalle and Peru, the same tile-drainage work Salz does throughout the rest of its Illinois Valley service area.
Services include: Field Tile Installation, Farm Tile Repair & Maintenance
Utility trenching for a well, septic, or electrical run on the edges of LaSalle and Peru is handled with the same equipment used on every other job in the area, sized to a residential or light commercial lot.
Services include: Electrical & Conduit Trenching, Water & Sewer Line Trenching
That history is written into the ground here. Peru’s own downtown moved up the bluff away from the river specifically to escape flooding, and the old Westclox and zinc-company sites throughout LaSalle carry decades of industrial fill and foundation conditions that a crew unfamiliar with the area could easily misjudge. Meanwhile, the residential neighborhoods spreading out from both downtowns need the same drainage, grading, and site prep work as any growing Illinois community.
Salz Drainage and Excavating brings its full range of services to LaSalle and Peru, from excavation and demolition on older industrial and residential lots to drainage work that respects which side of the bluff a property sits on.
Adam walks the property in person and gives an honest, upfront estimate — no surprise yardage overages or change-order surprises once work begins.
Because drainage, excavation, and land clearing work in Central Illinois is seasonal, jobs are planned around field conditions, weather, and — for agricultural clients — the growing season.
Excavators, dozers, scrapers, and the forestry mulcher are brought on-site. The crew owns its own equipment, so there's no waiting on rentals or subcontractors to get started.
Adam is hands-on through every job, overseeing the work himself from grading and digging to clearing and demolition.
The site is cleaned up and Adam walks the property with the client to confirm the work meets expectations before calling the job done.
LaSalle sits directly at the I-39/I-80 interchange, with Peru about 3 miles west along the river — this interstate access is unique among Salz’s service area and brings a steadier mix of commercial and light-industrial site work than the smaller farm villages nearby.
The bluff that separates Peru’s upland downtown from its original riverfront core is a real dividing line for drainage and grading work: a property below the bluff needs a different plan than one above it, and that difference is exactly why Peru’s downtown moved uphill in the first place.
Decades of zinc processing and clock manufacturing — the old “Zinc City” industry, including the Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc Works and the Westclox factory — left industrial fill and foundation conditions scattered throughout LaSalle and Peru’s older lots, and any excavation on those lots should expect the unexpected underground.
Illinois Valley Community College’s presence in nearby Oglesby, along with Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Parks just east of LaSalle, reflects a region in steady growth — a factor in the amount of new residential and light commercial site prep work coming out of the LaSalle-Peru area.
Salz runs excavators, dozers, scrapers, trucks, a drain tile plow, a trencher and a skid steer with a forestry mulcher and Harley rake, backed by GPS grading capabilities. That range supports moving dirt, shaping ground, opening sites and processing vegetation, but no specific machine is promised for a LaSalle/Peru project before access, material and scope are considered.
For a LaSalle/Peru project, tell us about gates, overhead restrictions, soft areas, nearby structures, features to preserve and the intended finish. If plans, tile maps, utility specifications or building requirements exist, have them ready. Better information makes a more useful estimate.
Salz Drainage and Excavating serves LaSalle and Peru together, from the downtown cores and the I-39/I-80 interchange to the residential and rural-edge neighborhoods surrounding both cities.
Nearby communities include Oglesby, Utica, Ottawa, Streator and Tonica.
Hours are Monday through Saturday, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Call (815) 426-9191 or use the contact form to describe your project and request a free estimate.
Free estimates come with a realistic scope, not a number built to win the bid and get changed later.
Adam Salz personally runs every job in LaSalle and Peru, from the estimate through the final walkthrough.
Excavators, dozers, scrapers, trucks, a drain tile plow, a trencher, and a skid steer with a forestry mulcher and Harley rake handle both in-town commercial work and residential jobs on the outskirts.
Whether a lot sits below the bluff near the old riverfront or on ground with a century of industrial fill underneath it, Salz plans the job around what’s actually there.
Commercial grading costs near the interchange depend on the size of the pad and how much material needs to move, and these jobs are scoped differently than a standard residential lot. Salz provides a free on-site estimate for either.
Yes. Because Peru’s downtown originally moved up the bluff specifically to escape river flooding, any foundation or drainage work below the bluff or close to the old riverfront gets planned around that history rather than a generic layout.
Yes, LaSalle and Peru are part of Salz Drainage and Excavating’s regular Illinois Valley service area, reachable via I-39 and I-80.
Occasionally. Decades of zinc processing and clock manufacturing left fill and foundation conditions scattered through some older lots in both cities, and Salz adjusts the plan when that history shows up underground.
Yes, residential and commercial demolition with full haul-off is available throughout both cities.
Yes, every estimate is free, whether the job is a commercial pad near the interstate or a residential drainage fix near the bluff.
