146 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



bring it down witb/scrapers. To this must be added the price of get- 

 ting the clay from thejieaps to the molding machines, a distance 

 of about 50 feet. In plowing clay the bank is usually worked at 

 an angle of about 30 degrees. This method has no especial 

 advantage. The clay is broken up more and exposed to the 



Loading clay on cars. 



weather for several days, but as far as I am aware this does not 

 add materially to the quality of the brick when the molding is 

 done in soft mud machines, which are used at all the yards 

 digging their clay by plows. 



3. Working in benches. — This method is the one most com- 

 monly used where the bank is over 25 feet high. The benches 

 are six to eight feet wide and seven to nine feet high. Roads 

 lead up to the separate benches, and each bench is worked in 

 advance of the lower one. 



Where the clay has streaks of quicksand the roads have to be 

 planked. If the bank is below tide level there is the additional 

 expense of pumping. This method is of importance along the 

 Hudson River where many of the clay banks are of considerable 

 height, and the use of benches often prevents a slide of the clay. 



4. Steam shovel. — Although this method of mining has been 

 successfully practised at many western localities the only place 

 in this state where it has been tried is Croton Landing in the 

 Hudson valley. These clays do not as a rule stand well with a 



