Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1885-09-04

L
says correspondent Of the Philadelphia
Press, is a panorama of desolation. =
constant succession Of bleak and barren
cliffs, with not green or lovely thing
for 800 miles. The vessels steamiug
up aud down always hug the shore,
within hearing of the bark Of the sea-
| lions and the screams of the water-birds,
millions of which haunt the coast, and
have covered the rocks with the guano
that so long enriched Peru. Nowhere
are birds and seals SO numerous, and
their bones and excrement, with the
decayed filth they have carried upon
the rocks, arc often found In masses
hundreds OF feet deep, baked hard like
clay. In n region where the sun shines
twelve hours each day and rain never
falls. This Is the guano of commerce,
millions Of tons OF which have been
shipped TO Europe to enrich the impov-
erished soil ei that continent.
Within the coast from ten 10 fifty
miles, and stretching for hundreds Of
miles, are the famous beds Of nitrate Of
soda, which, purified, Is saltpetre, being
| in themselves an inexhaustible source
OF revenue 10 their owners. aud contains
ing enough of the material TO supply
the world for thousand years. These
deposits, more profitable than silver or
guano, were discovered accidentally by
vagrant Englishman named George
Smith, but were not operated to any ex-
tent until recent years. Now nitrate,
having been found valuable compo-
nent of hundred chemical forms, Is In
demand the world over, and millions Of
dollars worth is shipped irom the ports
along the coast annually. Before It's
value was fully known number Of
farsighted men located "clalms," after
the fashion In vogue In mining-camps
everywhere, and then the governpient
stepped in and forbid any further pre-
emption. But the original locations
cover enough of the deposit to supply
the market for u century or two, and to
keep up the prices they have formed q
pool, monopoly combination, under
which they charge from ~ to- % per
hundred weight, that costs them about
| 10 cents. These owners live In London
and Paris, and count their profits, while
the mines are worked by superintend-
ents or administrators"
There Is apparently no limit to tho
stuff, the bed stretching up aud down
the coast for three hundred or four hun
dred miles. The surface Of the country
Is ms complete picture of desolation No
nature over framed. On one side isthe
Pacific ocean, with its great yswells
sweeping almost around the globe, as
regular and constant as the throbbings
Of the human pulse. On the other sIdo
the impenetfable Andes rise In range
whose altitude averages 1900 feet aud
whose peaks tower 20, 900 aud q, 900 feet
| above the sea. Between the ocean aud
the mountains for 1000 miles, with
varying width from 20 10 30 miles, lies
a strip Of drifting sand which no rivers
water and where rain never falls. AL
the water used by the Inhabitants 10
taken from the ocean, that for mcchan-
ical purposes being used la Its natural
condition, and that used for food being
condensed into steam and purged Of It's
salt by machinery. There II not well
or A spring along the coast. and drink
ing water Is an article Of merchandise,
like Ice or -four, costing about 2 cents q
gallon TO the consumer. " sttsr
Under the sand OF this desert, which
drifts before the wind like snow, nature
| has laid the bed Of nitrate. No one
knows how Ii was formed, aud man has
not attempted to measure i:s extent.
The sand Is first shoycled OF, aud then
crust Of sun-baked clay from four 10
twelve inches Ia removed. ,fhisdiscloses
bed OF white material that looks like
melting marble, full OF moisture, and
as soft az cheese. The stratu m IL often
four or five feet thick, and averages two
or three feet. IL is broken up with crow
bars and shoyeled into cars, In which II
is taken TO crushers, which grind II into
particles as Far ge ne pebbles. These are
lifted by elevators into great sats, where
It IL boiled until dissolved, In ordinary
sea water. Then the solution 10 run OF
into settles Of shallow iron watts, ex-
posed to the afr, which, being moisture
less and heated by constant sunshine,
causes rapid evaporation. The salt
from the water, mixed with the nitrate,
causes equalization, and, alters cer-
tain period OF exposure TO the air and
sun, the yats are found TO be covered
on the bottom and the sides with white,
sparkling crytais, like aiabastef, under
a bluish, yelIowish liquor. The liquor
is carefully drawn on, for tits even
more valuable than the saItperc, and is
conducted by pipes to another crucible,
where tits boiled and chemically treated
until IL produces the iodine OF commercc,
useful for hundred medical and chemi-
cal purposes. and costing as much per
ounce as The saltpetre brings per hum
.dred- weight.
The liquor having been withdraw,
the saltpetre is shoveled upon drying
boards, where 1t Is exposed 70 the sun
i - q u ~. q