Have you priced quarry rock delivered from the quarry as opposed to rock stacked on a pallet in a Landscape supply yard? You may be surprised at the difference.

Try looking on Craigs List. A construction site had a post for free rock in our area.

Often times if you go and check out a quarry they will have a "GRave yard" of remnants of old jobs and they will sell it very cheap. I bring my 16' trailer and a friends truck and I get 2500 lbs for 10 cents a bl. and we are talking red granite in Texas. Some states, Washington has a deal where if one pays the state a permit , one can collect rock from the state parks in places. Does NY have something like that. Texas does not do this but some states do.

I agree, in a store you pay about $1 / lb, can get to $ 100 easily, too much for me to spend.

I often look for rocks on the side of a road while driving. I had luck driving through Vermont and found an area where there was a little rock slide at the side of the road. Filled up my trunk. The problem is also that I can not pick up and move in and out of a car trunk rocks weighing more than 40 lbs. 20 lbs is about a one-man rock to carry comfortably. For larger rocks you probably need a truck and a fork lift.

Bagged playsand is about 40 lbs., a bag of salt for your water softener is 40 lbs., tube sand for weight in the back of vehicles is usually 60 lbs. and cement comes in 60 or 80 lb packaging. I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit.

And there is no shame in rolling rocks, or using a ramp to get them in and out of a vehicle.

leftwood,
you are correct about the rolling, and I also love that newer cars have a lower tailgate. I do not have a board in my trunk to roll a rock into the trunk on it.
Anyway the comfortable weight limit for moving stones depends on age and whether one had a back injury before. But then, groups of smaller stones in a garden look nice too. I also have a book which teaches how to make stones out of concrete, have not tried it yet.

Nevermind your own strength, you can destroy your car - break the axels (sp?) if you put in too much weight. Be careful if you have a normal car or SUV as opposed to a truck that is designed to carry heavy loads.

Personally, I evenly distribute the weight in my car in the back and front seats, pretending the rocks are people (100-200 lbs per seat).

the artifical stone for rockery garden.

Here is a link that might be useful: artifical rock