Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-08-12
On the Gu..nO Coast.

,uceession of bleak and barren cliffs,
9th not a green or lovely thing for
500 miles. The vessels steanling u p
and down always hug the shore.
sithin hearing of the bark of the sea
ions and the screams of the water
birds. millions of which haunt the
coast, and have covered the rocks with
he guano that so long enriched Peru.
Nowhere are birds and seals so nu-
merous. and their bones and eIcrement,
With the decayed fish they have car.
ned upon the rocks, are often found
in masses hundreds of feet deep,
baked hard like clay. IN region where
the sun shines twelve hours each day,
md rain never falls. This is the gu
sno of commerce, millions of tons OF
shich have been shipped to Europe TO
enrich the impoverished soil of that
continent.
Within the coast from ten to fifty
miles, and stretching for hundreds of
miles. are the famous beds of nitrate of
soda, which, purided, is saltpetre,
being IN themselves an inexhaustible
source of revenue to their owners, and
containing enough of the material to
supply the world for a thousand years.
These deposits, more profitable than
silver or guano, were discovered acci-
dentaIly by a vsgrant Englishman
named George Smith, but were not op-
Grated to any extent until recent years.
Now nitrate, having been found valu-
able component of hundred chemical
forms, 1t is in demand the world over,
and millions of dollars worth are
shipped from the ports along the coast
annually. Before its value was fully
known 9 number OF farsighted men To-
Gated "claims," after the fashion in
vogue in mining camps everywhere,
and then the government stepped III
and forbade any further pre-emption.
But the original locations cover enough
of the deposit to supply the market for
a century or two. and TO keep up the
prices they have formed a pool, mo-
nopoly combination, under which they
charge from 81 to SO per hundred
weight, Tor " hat costs them about 10 cts.
These owners 1--we IN London and Paris,
and count their profits, while the mines
are worked hv superintendents or "ad-
minist atols.'
There Is apparently no limit to the
stuff, the bed stretching mp and down
the coast for 300 or 400 miles. The
surface OF the country is as complete q
pi tare of desolatiOn as nature ever
framed. On one side Is the Pacific
ocean. with Its great swells sweeping
almost around the globe, as regular and
constant as the throbbings of the hu-
man pulse. On the other side the i'm
penetrable Andes rise in a range whose
altitude averages Is. 900 feet, and whose
peaks tower 70, 600 and %, 600 feet above
the sea. Between the ocean and the
mountains for LOCO miles, with a vary
ing width Of from twenty TO fifty miles,
hes a strip of drifting sand, which no
rivers water and where rain never falls.
All the water used by the inhabitants
is taken from the ocean, that for me-
chanical purposes being used in its nat
ural condition, and that used for food
beng condensed into steam and purged
Of its salt by machinery. There is not
q well OF a spring along the coast, and
drink water is an article of merchan-
disc, like ice or flour, costing about !
seven cents a gallon to the consumer. |
Under the sand of this desert, which |
drifts before wind like SNOW, nature has |
laid the bed OF nitrate. No one knows |
how il was formed, and man has not |
attempted to measure itS extent. The !
sand is first shoveled of, and then a |
crust of sun baked clay from four to |
twelve inches Is removed. This dis |
closes a bed of white material that !
looks like melting marble, full of moist |
ure. and as soft as cheese. The |
stratum is often four or five feet thick, |
and averages two or three feet. 1t Is
broken up by crowbars and shoveled |
into cars, IN which it is taken to |
crushers, which grind it up into parti-
cles as large as pebbles. These are
lifted by elevators into great watts,
where 1t Is boiled until dissolved ID
ordinary sea water. Teen the solution |
is run OF into a series of shallow iron
watts, exposed to the air, which, being
molstureless and heated by constant /
sunshine, causes rapid evaporation. |
The salt from the water, mixed with the /
nitrate, causes crystallization, and,
after q certain period OF exposure TO
the air and sun, the watts are found &c
be covered upon tine bottom and the
sides with white, sparkling crystals,
ike alabaster. under q blush, yellow
ish liquor. This liquor is carefully
drawn of, for ii is even more valuable
than the saltpetre, and is conducted 10y
pipes to another crucible. where 1t Is
boiled and chemically treated until it
produces tine iodine OF commerce, useful |
for a hundred medical and chemical
purposes, and costing as much pei
ounce as the saltpetre brings per hund,
red weight.
The liquor having been withdrawn,
the saltpetre Is shoveled upon drying.
boards, where II is exposed to the sun
for a time, then put in bags and shipped
to Europe and America. 1t is graded
like wheat and corn, according to
quality. The highest grade goes tc
the powder mills, the next TO the chem
ical works, and tine third to the fertIl.
izer factories, where 1t is made into
manure. The iodine Is packed in little
casks and covered with green hides,
which shrink with drying until they
are as tight rs a drumhead and keep
out moisture.