The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-02-16


springs are far less frequent than in the
Sahara, or the waste OF Obi, and drinking
water IS only procurablc by dstillation. For
fuel and forage the inhabitants must depend
ON the countries to the north and south;
while their cattle driven across the Andes
| from the Argentine plains reach the
coast in the most cmaciatrd condi-
I tion. During the greater part Of
the century this apparently worthless
| tract has uosscs-oi hut ono port, CObiin
numbering few hundred souls, and which
has never pretended To vie as an cntrcpot of
Bolivian products with the Peruvian sea-
! board towns Of Iququc and africa. II H.
however. this unpromising district which
has lately revealed surprising stores Of
wealth has brought together numerous
and thriving population, built with native
capital II railway some huudred miles i'm
length. and is destined To insure rail com
muncation between La Paz and the Pacific.
Attention was first directed to this barren
coast by the finding of guano beds ON the
peninsula of Mriilloncs. which will not of
course bc COMPOUNDED with its Peruvian
namcsakc situated twenty niles north of
! lquiquc. This immense accumulation Of
/ guano is estimated to contain not less than
two millions of tons: and the business of its
removal has called into existence q consid-
cradle town, besides making known to COM
mcrcr ono of the safest and most accessible
Ravens on the South Pacific. The impor-
| tancc Of this deposit, however, which could
only promise transient prosperity, was pres
emily altogether cclipscd by the discovery
of mineral treasures in the heart of the
| Atacama desert IL was I'm 1870 that Don
JOSE DrAs CANA, prospector Of long cx-
pcrcncc, exploring the interior of the waste,
came upon Il huge ridge of porphyry rising
abruptly to a height of five hundred yards
above the floor of the plateau. This mass of
rock which lies rather more than hundred
miles eastward from Mcjiloncs, was
scanned with silver groupings, and upon
close scrutiny tho surface or chlo-
ride ores proved very rich, and to
cover n wide area. No sooner was the char
actor of this ground, now the famous mining
district of Caracolcs, reported along the
coast. than n flood of emigrants poured in
from Chill, and some idea of its volume may
be gathered from the fact that no less than
forty thousand distinct mining claims. or
concessions, were recorded. Never, prob
| ably has the extraction OF the precious
metals encountered such formidable obsta-
cles. Not only was every ounce Of nourish-
ment supplied to the settlers imported from
a great distance, but the water they drank
| had tObe distilled al the sea coast and trans
| ported in casks to Caracolcs. All the ore,
| too, had To be conveyed to the coast to bc
| smcltcd there ut native works or shipped to
foreign countries. Moreover, when the sur
| face ores gave ont and IL became necessary
| to sink shafts in order To reach tho sui
| phurcts, or so-calcd metdics frios (which,
we may mention, We're finally discovered in
abundance at depth of eight hundred fcct),
every pound of fuel fed to the steam engines
had to be obtained ia the same costly and
circuitous way.
Under those circumstances It might have
| been expected that mine owners would
strcnuou-ly further the building of n rail-
way which must sensibly diminish the cx-
pcnscs Of production. Nevertheless the
line projected in 1871 by the house of WAT
sos ~ MEIGGs. from Mcjillones to Caracolcs,
proved a failure, It being found impossible
to place tho construction bonds i'm South
America or Europe, although interest was
| guaranteed by the Government The suc-
cr.sful completion of an iron road across
a part 81 the Atacama desert was due not to
silver, brit to another mineral product OF
/ thi- region. ln"NhNu-tihlc deposits of salt
petrc were found t. stretch across the
wilderness just south of the twonty-third
parallel, and the exclusive right of working
those wns granted t. 70 company which
| undertook at it. own cost the construction
81 a railway. I'm 1874 this limo was already
I'm running order from the new port of
Autofaga-tn to Salar del Carmen, and II Is
now open TO Salinas, the centre Of saltpetrc
production, from which : int it will speedily
be- continued to the mining district of Cara
coles. 4 road like this which finds bu--
ness ready ma le instead Of aiming tn create
it, seems to rest on sound basis. and the
scheme Of an all-rail route from the Bolivian
table land O. the sea can hardly be regarded
a. climciical now that one of its most diff
cult sections has been actually laid
This small and sterile coast tract once
the mere fag-cnd Of Bolivia besides consid-
cradle quantities treated MT native works
and retained at home, exported in tho year
ls74 silver and copper ores and saltpctre
representing an aggregate value of ten
millions of dollars, or about one-half the
annual yield now ascrbed to the gold mines
Of California. More striking even than these
figures is the rapid growth aud thriving
| u-I'tl pl AhibldFl~ll Nn' INV S'siIlbIl.
Hero, whcrc lately was n lonely beach, is
now neatly built, busy town. possessing n
church, theatre. and hospital, and amalga-
nation works with a reducing capacity of
twenty-five hundred tons month. To
meet the wants of its foreign and coast
trade, some five hundred vessels annually
enter its harbor. Tho steamers running
north and south call here three times n
week, and twice month direct steam
communication may be had with Liver
ppol 10y the Strait Of Magellan. In short,
this place and the whole region of which 1t
is the principal outlet reproduce on n con-
tractcd scale the features of abrupt develop
mont and vehement activity which have
marked the settlement Of mineral districts
In our own Pacific States Tho wonder Is
that such n phouomcnon should occur in
. Bolivia, and not in that portion of tho TO-
public Identified with its old productivoness,
but IN the waste Of Atacama. II really looks
. as If this isolated State would be indebted
to a despsod corner Of her territory for that