man's habitation to be
regarded in the present discussion.

Fully two hundred million of brick a year are being burned in the city
of Chicago with crude oil fuel, and a clamp kiln containing one
million brick can be burned with crude oil in Chicago at a labor cost
of less than $100, and at a total cost for labor and oil of about 40c.
per thousand brick.

There are not, however, many places in the world where brick can be
burned with oil at such a low cost as in the city of Chicago; the
reason being that oil is not everywhere obtainable so cheaply as in
this city, and because few clays in the world are so easily burned
into brick as are the clays of Chicago. In Milwaukee, Wis., and in
other places within a distance of 100 miles from Chicago, the time
required to burn building brick with crude oil fuel averages from
sixteen to twenty-one days, whereas the time of burning the Chicago
clays averages only about five days, and splendid "burns" have been
secured there with crude oil in three and one-half days. It is
evident, therefore, that the advantages of using crude oil fuel for
the burning of brick will vary in different parts of the United
States.

Where circumstances and the nature of the clay permit of its use,
crude oil is, next to fuel gas, the brickmakers' ideal fuel.--_The
Brickmaker_.

* * * * *

INVESTIGATION OF A MOUND NEAR JEFFERSON CITY, MO.

By A.S. LOGAN.

Recently, a party consisting of engineers and employes of the Missouri
River Improvement Commission began an exploration of one of the
mounds, a work of a prehistoric race, situated on the bluff, which
overlooks the Missouri River from an elevation of one hundred and
fifty feet, located about six miles below Jefferson City.

This mound is one of about twenty embraced in a circle one quarter of
a mile in diameter.

The above party selected the mound in question apparently at
haphazard; all the mounds presenting nearly a uniform outline,
differing only in size and mostly circular in form, and from twenty to
twenty-four feet at the base, rising to a height of eight feet and
under. A trench was cut on a level with the natural soil, penetrating
the mound about eight feet. A stone wall was encountered which was
built very substantially, making access in that direction difficult,
in consequence of which the earth was removed from the top for the
purpose of entering from that direction. The earth was removed for