From the Introduction: Built around a large multiple story tall building serving as an oversized kiln lies a moderate brickyard. The firing chamber for this shaft kiln is actually built into its basement while the raw bricks are stacked in the room above from floor to roof where the hot air has to pass them on its way to the chimney in the roof. Large piles of clay and coal next to the kiln hint at the yards purpose and depending on the week piles of raw bricks set out to dry or fired bricks fresh from the oven leave no doubt about it. Two smaller shacks next to the kiln allow the workers to mold bricks out of the weather and to dry them even when it is raining. Operating the large kiln itself is still quite a chore though. Stocking it with tons of raw bricks and only slightly less coal takes days at a time. And after the fire has been lit it takes juts as long for the bricks to be burned and for the kiln to cool before the finished bricks and tons of ash from the firing chamber can be cleared out again.