HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                          123

the entire contract to be performed by October 1, 1895. The cost was
$29,153.68, but at the final settlement with the contracting company in
the spring of 1896, the city paid several thousand dollars more for addi-
tions and extras. The reconstructed water works were highly satisfac-
tory for a time. The water was clear and pure, and the new machinery
gave a higher pressure for fire purposes. The failure of the new system
was due to the fact that the tubular wells became clogged at the lower
ends and were soon rendered useless. As a result, resort was had to the
old reservoir, and it is only within the last two or three years that a means
has been found to overcome the old difficulty with the wells. Since that
time Brazil has had a supply of good water, and its water works can now
be classed among the best in the state. A striking test of its adequacy
was furnished in the dry summer of 1908, when many cities of Indiana
suffered water famine. In Brazil the supply showed no signs of failing,
and no restrictions were placed upon the liberal use of the water for all
ordinary purposes.
    Some items from the report of the superintendent of water works,
Mr. G. A. Fletcher, for the year ending December 31, 1908, will be of
present and future interest. For the first year since the establishment
of the water works, the system had not incurred a deficit. The total
receipts of the department for the year were a little in excess of ten thou-
sand dollars, while the total operating expenses were $6,708, which, with
the cost of extensions and improvements, brought the total disbursements
for the year to $9,503, making a balance for the department of a little
over $500. The report also shows that the total amount of water pumped
during the year was 188,535,600 gallons, or a little over half a million
gallons a day. The cost to the city of pumping this water is estimated at
three and one-half cents per thousand gallons. The total length of water
mains is placed at 10.8 miles, and there are 98 fire plugs.
    The school city of Brazil is at the present time one of the largest
institutions, considered merely from a business point of view, in the city
and county, its revenues and expenditures being as large as some of the
principal industrial concerns. The annual payroll for the teachers in the
year 1907-08 was $28,239.84, and the capital represented in the six school
buildings and their equipment estimated at $146,000.
    While this represents the financial side, it is of greater importance to
notice that the total enrollment in the schools of the city (including the
parochial school) at the present time is 2,048 (260 of whom are in the
parochial school). The schools of the city thus give their advantages to
nearly a fourth of the total population. No other institution comes into
such close relations to so large a proportion of the people, and the growth
of the schools reflects not only the increase in population, but the prog-
ress of the people in broader ideals of intellectual and civic efficiency.
    The oldest school in the city, the one which was attended by the
fathers and mothers of many of the children of this time, is the Meridian
street school. The north half of this building, with its bell tower, was
built about 1868, soon after the town was incorporated. The first bonded
debt ever incurred by the town board was for the purpose of erecting this
building. In May, 1868, the board authorized the issue of ten thousand
dollars in bonds, drawing ten per cent interest (which was a not extrava-
gant rate for that time).
    The first schoolhouse built after the incorporation of the city was
the Lambert street school, erected in 1875, a two-story brick building,