A Pioneer In His Line. Hardly second to the vast lumber product of Little Falls is the brick product, in importance. The young city certainly has a name for the latter output which the lumbermen have yet to earn. It is highly important, and to a certain extent explanatory, when Mr. Odilon Duclos pronounces the Little Falls clay deposit superior to anything he has ever seen; and it certainly needs no further indorsement, for Mr. Duclos has had experience in this line in Canada and in some half-dozen States of the Union. The abundance of cheap wood at hand, for fuel, is another and almost equally important feature which Mr. Duclos was not slow to appreciate. Mr. Duclos is a native of Sherbrook, Canada. In 1867 he became a resident of Little Falls. That year, at St. JohnsCollege, he made the first brick ever moulded in Stearns County. Not long after he started a brickyard at St. Cloud, and went from there to Brainerd, where he did the first work in his line. From Brainerd he migrated to Michigan, locating in a town on Lake Superior, thence he drifted to Maine, over to Canada once more, finally returning to Little Falls to engage in farming. But that occupation he soon abandoned for his old trade, and some eight years ago he began business again with two small machines, with a combined capacity of four or five hundred thousand a year. The excellent quality of the brick and the rapid growth of the Northwest made a prosperous business and largely increased demands made a bigger plant a necessity. New machinery was added and the capacity increased until the output equals now about three millions of brick annually. The capacity will soon be increased by the introduction of new machinery for making sewer and fire brick – a very important addition to the manufactured products of the State.
The principal markets have been the Twin Cities, Duluth and West Superior, whose finest buildings are constructed mainly of the Duclos brick. Of this material the major portion of the N. P. shops at Como were built. A recent contract that is highly creditable to the Duclos article was one given by the Northern Pacific company for brick for a roundhouse at Glendive, Montana. The brick is of a very agreeable cream color, and is free from lime, alkali and manganese. This is a rare quality, and one that is appreciated best after a test made by Nature. It is stoutly claimed for this brick, also, that it will stand a severer fire and pressure test than any other made in the State. That there will be a “general survival of the fittest” in this age of lofty brick structures no one will be foolish enough to deny; and the firm that makes an honest, reliable brick is sure to weather the storms of adversity, with a moderate show of backbone maintained for a few years. And an established reputation, such as Mr. Duclos enjoys, is the best property a manufacturer can own. Nobody can buy it. Mr. Duclos lives in a handsome residence a half-a-mile or so from the city limits of Little Falls, and appears to be enjoying life as a man generally does who has won the esteem and confidence of his fellowmen, and has stored up a fair supply of the world’s goods. (Northwest Magazine, November 1892, Page 30)
Disposes of Brickyards. O. Duclos, After 26 Years of Brickmaking Here, Sells Business. Announcement was made Tuesday of the sale of the O. Duclos brickyards, houses, lands and business two miles west of the city to Alphonse Dugas and P. O. Duclos. While it had been rumored for several days that the transfer would be made details had not been completed until this week. The deal is one of importance, including as it does the transfer to the new owners of the yards, seven houses, 220 acres of land and the well established business. The new proprietors take possession immediately and begin business with the brightest of prospects. They are both young men of sterling qualities and have the confidence of all acquaintances. Mr. Dugas has been in the barber business in Little Falls for the past twelve years and Mr. Duclos, who is a son of O. Duclos, has been superintendent of the brickyards for his father the past two seasons. He has an intimate knowledge of the business and has been very successful in the operation of the yards.
Mr. Dugas plans to occupy the residence at the yards which has been the O. Duclos home for several years, and Mr. and Mrs. Duclos will move to this city as soon as a suitable house can be found. The O. Duclos brickyards were established in their present location twenty-six years ago, being first opened up by Mr. Duclos and Louis J. Hamlin, now a resident of Minneapolis. The Little Falls & Dakota railroad had only been constructed a few months previous to the opening of the yards. After a few months Mr. Hamlin retired from the business and since then the yards have been controlled solely by Mr. Duclos. Since the opening, in 1882, the yards have never been idle a season. The capacity of the yards has been between three and four million brick per season and the latter figure has been reached at various times.
The clay at this point is of the finest for good brick making and the demand for the local yard’s product has taken the entire output annually. The retiring owner states that the supply of clay still available will run the yards for a much longer period than they have been operated in the past. Most of the brick now manufactured are marketed in the northern part of the state and the Dakotas. In earlier years the Northern Pacific used much of the Duclos product in the west, and the large N. P. station at Butte, Montana, is constructed of Little Falls brick. O. Duclos began the making of brick forty-eight years ago and opened yards at various points. He came from New Hampshire to Little Falls, and some of his first product here was sold to build the Northern Pacific’s Como car shops at St. Paul. He has been very successful and his brick have gained him an enviable reputation as a brick maker. He still owns the yards at Wrenshall which are being operated by another son and son-in-law, Ernest Duclos and B. O. Hart. (Little Falls Daily Times, Wednesday, June 17, 1908)