The Brick Industry. One of the great, growing and prosperous enterprises of northern Minnesota is located at Woodcock’s Spur, two and a half miles north of Princeton. Few people in this vicinity realize the extent of this business. We refer to the brick making industry, which was established in a small way as a sort of experiment in 1880. The plants now located there have a combined capacity of nearly 20,000,000 bricks each season. To transport to market this enormous output requires 47 train loads of 40 cars each train. There is enough clay in sight at these works to run at the present capacity 1,000 years. There are also great quantities of wood in the near neighborhood, enough to last for years, much of which would be worth nothing to the farmers who are clearing their land, but which now brings a good price at the brick yards. About 150 men are given employment during the brick making season, at good wages, and about 1,000 cords of wood are consumed. The first yard established was that of Woodcock & Oakes, in 1889, which now has a capacity of 5,000,000 annually; Princeton Brick Co., capacity 4,000,000, established in 1892; Cream Brick Co. and Farnum (Farnham) Brick Co., established in 1900, each capacity 2,000,000.
The first four yards jointed operate a general store under the firm name of the Princeton Mercantile Co., and through this company all their brick is sold. A postoffice named Brickton has just been established. The product of these yards finds a ready and ample market throughout the entire Northwest. The Great Northern railway runs through these yards, with a spur into each yard. Woodcock & Oakes also operate here a hardwood saw mill, capacity 20,000 feet per day, and manufacture all kinds of hardwood lumber. E. H. Sellhorn, bookkeeper for Woodcock & Oakes, has been with the firm since the yard was established. A. W. Woodcock, of the firm of Woodcock & Oakes, was born in the Province of New Brunswick in 1845, and came to Minnesota in 1858, locating at St. Anthony. In 1876 he went to Lincoln, Neb.; in 1878 he came to Princeton and engaged at logging, which he discontinued in 1898. He engaged in the brick business in 1889; he is one of Princeton’s most honored citizens, a successful business man, one who is ever watchful to advance his city and county. (Mille Lacs County, From Mille Lacs County Booklet published between the years 1901 and 1907, no page numbers)
Page 196. THE BRICK INDUSTRY. Little Falls has become quite well known through her excellent and superior brick. Two miles to the west of the city may be found the extensive brick-making plant of P. O. Duclos. Here thirty men find employment during the brick-making season, which is about seven months out of each year. The new plant is a wonder in the art of making builders’ brick. It
Page 197. is operated by means of electricity, which current cost the owner more than twenty-two thousand dollars. The brick-making building is eighty-seven by one hundred and fify-seven feet, with two floors, each chamber holding three hundred thousand cream, wire-cut bricks. The daily capacity is about forty-five thousand. It employs the Klose continuous kiln process. The output in 1914 was not far from eight million brick. They are mostly used for facing brick in expensive structures.
MANUFACTURING FIGURES - 1913. The following will show the business derived at Little Falls from the various manufacturing plants in 1913 - a twelve months' record: P. O. Duclos Brick Manufacturing: No. Men 30, Wages Paid $16,000, Value Prod. $100,000. (History of Morrison and Todd Counties Minnesota, Volume I, Their People, Industries and Institutions, Clara K. Fuller, B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, 1915)
Martin Scott was originally from Maine and moved to Little Falls in 1880. Martin teamed up with C. A. Sprandel and their business was called the Scott-Sprandel brick yard. Brick from this yard supplied the Morrison County Courthouse, Riverside Mill, the powerhouse/gatehouse of the Little Falls Water Power Company, and the Little Falls City Hall. The Duclos Brick company was founded by Odilon Duclos about 2 miles west of Little Falls. Later the brickyard was transferred to his son, P. O. Duclos. W. D. Robson, E. Rothwell, and N. L. Dargis founded the Minnesota Brick Company in 1891. This plant produced about 3 million bricks a year. These three Little Falls brickyards all were located west of town. The colors of the bricks were basically cream or light yellow, but some were darker red. The Great Northern Como Shops in St. Paul were built from brick made by the Duclos and Scott brickyards. (Northwest Magazine, 1892, Smalley, E.V. Little Falls, Minnesota. Northwest Magazine, Dec. 1887, pp. 1-9, 18, 27. Smalley, E.V. Little Falls, Minnesota. Northwest Magazine, Oct. 1891, pp. 14-22. Smalley, E.V. Little Falls, Minnesota, Northwest Magazine, November 1892, pp. 26 & 30)
Little Falls Brick. Facilities of all the Yards Increased, and the Demand Still Ahead of the Supply. The three brick yards on the Little Falls & Dakota railroad near Little Falls have finished their season’s work, and the excellent quality of brick manufactured here has built up a demand that it is impossible to supply even with the increased facilities that have been used this year. The first brick yard was opened near Little Falls about 5 years ago, and the yearly product was then small. The clay was found to be of the best quality for the manufacture of fine cream brick, and the demand has always been in excess of the supply, notwithstanding that the number manufactured has increased year by year. Scott & Sprandel’s and O. Duclos’ yards have been running several years, and the Minnesota Brick company first began business this year. Each of the three yards are now using wire cut machines for making brick, the power being furnished by steam. The brick made are very fine, presenting almost as smooth a surface as the pressed brick from many yards. The total output of the three yards this year is over 5,000,000, and the increased machinery to be added the coming winter will insure the making of about 10,000,000 brick in 1888.
In the past the demand has been mostly from St. Paul and Duluth, the local market taking but a comparatively small portion of them. The St. Paul & Northern Pacific railroad shops, Stees Bros.’ block, and several other fine buildings at St. Paul have been built with Little Falls brick, while in Duluth a large number of the finest buildings have been constructed with brick from our yards. Next year it is the plans of the proprietors of the yards to add machinery to make pressed brick, and the quality of the clay will insure the making of brick that cannot be excelled anywhere in the world. Even the present brick made in the wire cut machines are equal to the pressed brick from many localities, and the pressed brick will certainly far exceed the usual quality. The manufacture of brick at this place is now a very important industry, and is destined to have a great growth. While nearly all the brick yet made have been of a cream shade, the Minnesota Brick company have made some of very fine red brick – some of the clay being of a different character than is to be found at either of the other yards. They will be able to make both red and cream brick, and have already supplied contracts for both. (Unknown Little Falls newspaper and unknown date)