The Princeton brickyard started up yesterday morning for the first time this season. Owing to the wet weather it was not deemed advisable to start before but the recent improvement in trade and large shipments of brick made it necessary this week. There is also a change in the firm, F. M. Campbell retiring and William Oakes, of Anoka, who has been connected with the operation of the yard for several years, succeeding him. Mr. Woodcock still retains his interest as before. (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, June 27, 1895, Volume XIX, Number 27, Page 1)
Woodcock & Oakes have just completed the contract for furnishing brick for the Normal school building at Superior, shipping 400,000 brick to that point. (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, January 30, 1896, Volume XX, Number 6, Page 5)
Woodcock & Oakes have just closed a contract with D. F. Chandler for 400,000 brick to be used in the construction of the new hotel at Melrose. (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, March 5, 1896, Volume XX, Number 11, Page 5)
A Union reporter visited this yard, now owned by Woodcock & Oakes, and found it a place of great activity. Thirty men are employed and brick are being turned out at the rate of 50,000 per day. Friday evening the yard had made 2,500,000 brick, of which 1,459,000 were burned, 536,000 set in the kilns and 510,000 were drying. This was the product of 47 3/4 day’s run with the machine. Mr. Woodcock stated that they had intended to make 3,000,000 this season and that the mark would be easily reached. During six years the yard has manufactured 13,664,942 bricks not counting the 800,000 turned out the first year. (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, August 13, 1896, Volume XX, Number 34, Page 1)
Woodcock & Oakes have already burned 300,000 brick this season and have 800,000 set ready to begin to burn this week. Besides this they have between 400,000 and 500,000 on the yard. The season has been against brick-makers but whenever there was fair weather the manufacturers have hustled and are doing fairly well. There is a good demand for Princeton brick and both yards are constantly shipping. There has been some difficulty in filling orders, however, owing to the great demand and the lack of stock. (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, July 29, 1897, Volume XXI, Number 32, Page 5)
The brickyards have stopped manufacturing for the season and the crews are now hustling to get the raw brick into the kilns before cold weather sets in in earnest. Woodcock & Oakes turned out nearly 3,500,000 and Farnham Bros. closed with about 2,700,000 to their credit. The latter firm’s output would have been considerable larger but for an accident which shut down their machinery during some of the best weather of the season. The demand for Princeton brick is steady and the yards will probably be completely cleaned out before they can start on the 1898 run, this too at an advanced price. (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, October 14, 1897, Volume XXI, Number 43, Page 5)
One Princeton Lumber Firm Are Said to Be Doing It. W. H. Oakes, of the firm of Woodcock & Oakes, came down from the lumber region this week and was seen by the UNION yesterday. Mr. Oakes says the lumbermen in the vicinity of Grand Rapids, where his firm is located, have nothing to complain of in this weather. There are four inches of snow and the roads are in excellent condition. Work in the woods is much easier than where there is a heavy deposit and therefore everything is moving smoothly. His firm is hauling 100,000 feet per day on an average but as they have 6,000,000 feet to haul their crew will not finish before April 1. Woodcock & Oakes have a crew of 90 men and so far but one man has been injured. Several of the boys have been in the hospital on account of an epidemic of measles but no one has been seriously ill. Rum river lumbermen have good reason to envy their more fortunate brethren of the upper Mississippi. (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, January 20, 1898, Volume XXII, Number 5, Page 1)
Woodcock & Oakes have already made 3,250,000, of which 2,650,000 are burned. With a continuance of the good weather this firm hopes to be able to turn out 4,000,000 this season. There have been no bad storms to damage the brick this year or cause delay and therefore the yard is well filled with excellent brick. At this yard there has been but one shutdown and that was when some miscreant cut the belts, which caused a day’s delay to repair the damage. There have been no accidents. (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, September 1, 1898, Volume XXII, Number 38, Page 1)
A miscreant broke into the brick plant of Woodcock & Oakes, near Princeton, Minn., one night recently and cut every brick in the factory, causing the only shut-down of the season for them. (The Clay Worker, T. A. Randall & Co., Indianapolis, September 1898, Volume XXX, Number 3, Page 222)
Princeton. Brick Manufacturing. – Woodcock & Oakes. First Inspection 1899. Adults – Male - 30. Total No. Employed - 30. No. Hours Labor Each Day - 10. Average No. Weeks Employed in Year – 20. Second Inspection 1900. Adults – Male - 38. Minors – Boys - 2. Total No. Employed - 40. No. Hours Labor Each Day - 10. Average No. Weeks Employed in Year – 26. (Seventh Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor of the State of Minnesota, 1899-1900, Pioneer Press Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1900, Page 117)
The brick yards are "sawing wood" these days and making brick in great fashion, and the crews of the various yards are making records this season as they have never made before. Recently the crew at Woodcock & Oakes yard made a record of 72,000 brick in a run of eleven hours, and finished a four days’ run with an average of 67,300 brick daily. (The Princeton Union, Thursday, June 12, 1902, Volume XXVI, Number 26, Page 2)
Brick Yards Close Down. Last Saturday the brick yards all closed down for the season after a rather poor season, from the standpoint of weather conditions. The four yards of the Cream Brick Co., Woodcock & Oakes, Farnham Brick Co., and Princeton Brick Co., turned out the past season about 14,000,000 brick, of which Woodcock & Oakes made 3,500,000, Cream Brick Co., 3,250,000, and the Farnham and Princeton Brick companies about 3,000,000 each. Last year the same companies made 19,000,000 brick. (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, September 10, 1903, Volume XXVII, Number 39, Page 7)
Page 298. Princeton. Brick and Tile – 1903. Woodcock & Oakes. Total Number Wage Earners - 40. Adult Males - 40. Number of Hours Each Day - 10. Number of Hours Each Week - 60. Average Number Weeks Operated During 1902 - 20. Number Employed between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. – 5. Number Persons Regularly Employed Sunday – 5. Established in Year – Illegible.
Page 299. 1904. Total Number Wage Earners - 27. Adult Males (Excluding Office Force) - 27. Number of Hours Each Day – 10. Number of Hours Each Week – 60. Average Number Weeks Operated Last Year - 14. Number Employed between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. – 2. Number Persons Regularly Employed on Sunday – 2. Changes in Name of Firm or New Inspections – None. (Ninth Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor of the State of Minnesota, 1903-1904, Volume 2, Great Western Printing Company, 1904)
A. W. Woodcock was in the twin cities last week on business. Mr. Woodcock is figuring on getting a lot of the Princeton cream brick into Havre, Montana, which city lost most of the best blocks by a fire recently. One of the buildings, a bank building, was partially built of the famous cream brick and withstood the attacks of the fire all right, and this has been a great add for the Princeton brick. If the brick yards can get a reasonable rate to Havre they can put in a lot of brick at that place, as the cream brick are superior to the Montana brick. (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, February 25, 1904, Volume XXVIII, Number 11, Page 5)
The brick yards at Brickton will only make about half a run this season. Woodcock & Oakes and Farnham Brick Co. and Kuhn Bros., shut down last week while the Cream Brick Co., and the Princeton Brick Co. will run for two weeks or so yet. The output will be about two and a half million brick for each company for the season. (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, September 1, 1904, Volume XXVIII, Number 38, Page 8)
Brickton, Minn. - A. W. Woodcock is putting in grates and will use coal for fuel in his kilns hereafter. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, Volume XXVI, Number 2, February 1907, Page 82)
The Brick Output. Brick-making at the Princeton yards is about finished for this year. The total output for the season is 17,500,000, divided as follows: A. W. Woodcock, 4,200,000; R. P. Morton’s two yards 7,000,000, of which about 1,000,000 are hollow tile brick; Farnham Brick Co., 3,000,000; Princeton Brick Co., 3,300,000. The demand for brick this year was not as good as last and a large stock will be carried over. (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, September 19, 1907, Volume XXXI, Number 39, Page 1)