John Cameron (J.C.) Duff graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College
in 1914. He purchased and operated an apiary business in Tara, Bruce County with his
brother Alex under the name Duff Brothers Apiartists.
In 1928, he sold the honey
business and entered the contracting field. His first vehicles were a 1925 GMC 1½ yard
dump truck and a model T Ford Truck on which he fitted a 1 yard bucket with hand-cranked
hoist. These were used to haul gravel on road maintenance contracts within the County of
Wellington.
From 1931 to 1932, Duff built his first portable crushing plant and brought the
business down to Peel County. The firm opened several pits in Brampton, Stoufville and
Orona areas while some municipal gravel jobs took them as far away as Kingston.
J. C. Duff, with his son James McEwen (Mac) Duff, incorporated the company in 1947. Mac
had recently returned from overseas and began training at the University of Toronto in
civil engineering, while working summers with his father. The following year they leased
property at the South West corner of Highway 7 and Dixie Road in Brampton. In 1949, a
stationary crushing plant was erected which marked the start of their commercial
operations providing granular materials for the western Metro Toronto and Peel Regional
market.
In the ensuing years, the company operated from five other properties in the area. In
1961, they purchased the equipment of Industrial Sand & Gravel and took over its
operation on Heart Lake Road (now Highway 410 north of Bovaird).
Early J. C. Duff Limited Gravel Operations
In 1965, J. C. Duff Limited began it’s current Limehouse operation where it
operates Halton Hills’ only gravel wash-plant facility. Mac Duff took over as
president in 1974 until his retirement in 1995. The company is currently in the hands of
third generation Duff’s and has expanded it’s operation with the purchase of
it’s Huxley Pit north of Hillsburgh (County of Wellington) in 1989.
J. C. Duff Limited was a founding member of the Aggregate Producers’ Association
of Ontario back in 1957 and still plays an active role in the APAO’s objective of
improving the aggregate industry in Ontario.
