diff --git a/gtsam/linear/GaussianFactorGraph.cpp b/gtsam/linear/GaussianFactorGraph.cpp
index 69890c32d..9a22d6111 100644
--- a/gtsam/linear/GaussianFactorGraph.cpp
+++ b/gtsam/linear/GaussianFactorGraph.cpp
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ namespace gtsam {
           for (size_t j = 0; j < (size_t) whitenedA.cols(); j++) {
             double s = whitenedA(i, j);
             if (std::abs(s) > 1e-12)
-              entries.push_back(boost::make_tuple(row + i, column_start + j, s));
+              entries.emplace_back(row + i, column_start + j, s);
           }
       }
 
diff --git a/gtsam/linear/SparseEigen.h b/gtsam/linear/SparseEigen.h
index 9df74f9fc..eac4178aa 100644
--- a/gtsam/linear/SparseEigen.h
+++ b/gtsam/linear/SparseEigen.h
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@
 
 namespace gtsam {
 
-typedef Eigen::SparseMatrix<double> SparseEigen;
+/// Eigen-format sparse matrix.  Note: ColMajor is ~20% faster since
+/// InnerIndices must be sorted
+typedef Eigen::SparseMatrix<double, Eigen::ColMajor> SparseEigen;
 
 /// Constructs an Eigen-format SparseMatrix of a GaussianFactorGraph
 SparseEigen sparseJacobianEigen(