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Solved Depression for
Self by Carving Ducks
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Roy Conklin, Alexandria Bay, Has Built Up Business Which
Now Employs Two Others in Supply Demand For
Ornamental Models of Ducks---First Made Carvings to
Amuse Himself While Without Work
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Alexandria Bay, March 5. -- Unemployment has proved to be a blessing in disguise to one young man of the village, Roy Conklin, who in the last two years has capitalized a love for modeling and wood work into a fast growing business which is carried on in a number of states. He already employs two other people besides himself.
Two years ago this winter Mr. Conklin found himself without a job and for his own amusement, and principally as a means to supply himself with something to do to keep busy, he started to carve out small ducks, similar to decoys, but small enough to be used as house ornaments on the table or wall.
After turning out a number by hand Mr. Conklin happened to show them to Julius Breitenbach, local island resident, and Mr. Breitenbach purchased a number of the model ducks for his houseboat and his summer home on Maple island.
A little bit later the thought came to Mr. Conklin that the model ducks could be fastened to the wall of a home more realistically if the ducks were cut from bill to tail and the halves placed directly on the wall. Local people soon began decorating their walls with flocks of ducks. Decorations of this type in the local bank building and the den of Mr. Breitenbach’s home attracted the attention of visitors to the region, and, upon inquiry as to their source, placed orders with Mr. Conklin for similar decorations for their home.
Then Mr. Conklin went to work as a motor boat captain for J. Cooper Stebbins of Watertown, who also became interested in the realistic productions of Mr. Conklin. Orders at different times by Mr. Stebbins brought the ducks to the attention of Watertown residents and orders began to arrive from sports enthusiasts in Watertown and other places in northern New York.
A little later Abercrombie & Fitch, well known sporting goods store in New York, heard of the duck models and wrote up for samples. Orders immediately followed the arrival of the samples and from New York the fame of the ducks spread to sporting goods stores in other cities of the east and midwest, and Mr. Conklin was bombarded with more orders than he could take care of by himself. So his father and his brother were employed in the enterprise and power machinery was installed in the basement to take care of the rough work, leaving only the fine detail work of finishing and painting to be done by hand.
During the past winter Mr. Conklin has kept his small factory running overtime to meet the orders that keep coming in and last week he received a long distance call from St. Louis, Mo., from a dealer who wanted some of Mr. Conklin’s products and could not wait for the slower procedure of a mail order.
Mr. Conklin’s instinct for reproduction of animal life is now leading him into the painting field and he is turning out a number of large wall plaques with scenes typical of hunting and fishing as the motif. Only last week he turned out a huge plaque for a sport- (incomplete - perhaps I will find the remainder of the article on microfilm when I get to Watertown next year)
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The second article was taken from the November 28, 1953 issue of the Watertown Daily Times (Jefferson County, N. Y.)
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Bay Native’s Whittling Alexandria Bay, Nov. 28. -- Roy A. Conklin, a native of this village and son of Roy C. Conklin, Otter street, now living at 621 Jersey avenue in Ogdensburg, has developed a hobby of whittling into a profitable career as well as notice in sports circles for birds which he carves. When he’s not out hunting ducks, Mr. Conklin is generally in his workshop, carving birds from wood. A visitor finds the 44-year-old sportsman fashioning life-like models to be shipped off to various spots throughout the U. S., to Hawaii and England and anywhere there is a request for them. Castle and Cooke, Ltd., Honolulu’s top sporting mart, writes to ask for a greenhead mallard, a drake, a canvassback, a california quail and a jacksnipe. Abercrombie and Fitch, Manhattan’s sporting goods center, sends a note for 25 wild ducks. There are big order, too, from Chicago’s Marshall Field and from Harrod’s, Ltd., in London. Mr. Conklin’s knack at whittling in wood and for painting his models makes him popular about some of the nation’s big sportsmen organizations. The Sportsmen’s club of Chicago, for example, recently named him an honor member (other members are Clark Gable and the late Zane Grey). Despite the attention, Mr. Conklin considers his best tribute a casual remark made to him one day not long ago. “I can’t help admiring the authentic expressions you manage to get into your bird reproductions,” a man said. The compliment, it turned out, was made by Lynn Bogue Hunt, noted wildlife artist. Visitors here see many of the Conklin birds mounted and seemingly in full-flight in gift and souvenir shops. He was born here, and first learned to hunt and fish here. He served as a river guide and as a carpenter. “I was a jack-of-all-trades. You have to be in a town like that,” he now remarks. But his hobby, carving ducks and other wildlife in wood was one trade which seemed to keep him busier than all else. He attended school here, played varsity football and hockey. The more formal aspects of education came less easily. He was always penciling out birds in the margin of his books. One time Conklin took a quick art course at Columbia university in New York city. He worked days for the old New York Sun’s printing department and went to school nights. “I rather liked New York, but then spring would come, and I’d want to be back here---the old element, you know,” he said. He came back and married Miss Margaret Sullivan of Potsdam, who he describes “a bug, just like me about hunting and fishing.” For eight years he whittled away, making his hobby a profitable career. When World War II came, he dropped the business and joined defense work. Not long after, the Conklins moved to Ogdensburg. Now carpenter foreman for the Rapid River Construction company he works at South Colton. He is off hunting every chance he gets. If not he is downstairs in a world of wood, oils, elaborate machinery and hand tools, cutting out ducks, mounting them against a river sunset, shaping decoys and reaming out fishing tackle for deepsea fishermen. *The decoyist was the son of Roy and Pearl Comstock Conklin, of Alexandria Bay. Roy, Sr., was the son of Franklin and Eva Ball Conklin of Pillar Point in Jefferson County. Pearl Comstock was the daughter of George and Hoadley Comstock, of Alexandria Bay. (by Shirley Conklin Farone) Return to Shirley Farone's Homepage
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