Triaxial tests with confining pressures of up to 14 MPa (2000 psi) to simulate the overburden pressure, etc., are performed on duplicate sets of cores taken from Silver Point Quad in DeKalb County, Tennessee. Oil yields in the specimens ranged from 35 l/t (8.4 gal/ton) to 65 l/t (15.6 gal/ton). A Mohr-Coulomb failure model was developed making use of p-q plots and statistical analysis. A significant finding of this study is that the failure of Tennessee oil shale under confining pressures is independent of the richness of the oil shale. Cohesion and angle of internal friction of oil shale are obtained with high accuracy. 7 figures, 1 table.