The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1891-05-13
CHILEAN NITRATE MINES.
GREATEST NATURAL CURIOSITY
ON THE SOUTHERN CONTINENT
Interesting Facts Concerning This
Very Valuable Commoditity-The
Supply InexhaustibIe.

AhOcFOStiuS EaCbs concerning 1nIS
Very Valuable Commoditity-The
Supply InexhaustibIe.
When we first saw Iquique pronounced
E-kee-kee), little more than half year
ago, writes Fannie B. Ward, it was one
of the most peaceful and prosperous
cities of Chile-a seaport second only TO
Valparaiso in population and commercial
importance, in wide contrast to the
burned and battered ruin the rebels made
of it on their recent raid. 1t has long
been the great shipping point of the
world for nitrate of Soda vast busi-
ness, practically controlled by English
capital; and therefore in the eyes of
Englishmen Iquique is of more conse-
quence than all the rest of Chile put to-
gether.
For more than year past the nitrate
people have been doing little profitable
business, principally on account of the
Government troubles and consequent
strikes among the laborers, and also be-
cause the English market is overstocked
with the commodity, and therefore its
price is correspondingly low. From this
nitrate industry alone the Chilean Gov
ernment has been collecting n revenue
of about $50, 900, 900 per anuum in ex-
port duties.
Perhaps the greatest natural curiosity
on the Southern Continent is this mex
haustible deposit of nitrate of soda. Beds
of it are strewn along the western coast
for five hundred miles; and throughout
all that distance the physical aspect of
the country is the same-everywhere an
arid range of hills from four to six thou
sand feet high, rising abruptly out of the
Pacific, backed by desert pampa tplain)
from fifty to one hundred miles wide,
which gradually ascends to the foot of
the snowy Cordillera. Nowhere else in
the world except in this particular pampa
are nitrates found in quantities worth
mentioning.
The pampa above Iquiqui derives its
name from the tamarugal bushes with
which it is sparsely covered. Further
north, above Tarapaca, the bold features
of the Cordillera and some beauty to the
landscape; while inside from Antofo-
gasta, iu the great desert of Atacama,
there is not even a distant mountain to
be seen--nothing but brown sand as far
as the eye can reach. There is no cloud
on the FURNISHED sky to temper the rays
of the vertical sun; the hot air distinct
ly vibrates, and blue mirage lakes tan
talize the thirsty traveller. One can
scarcely bear to touch the scorching sand, a.,
at 130 degrees, and light south wind
continually raises whirlvinds of dust in
every direction. Neither bird, beast nor
plant of the lowest type can live in these
barren wastes; and yet their hidden
wealth has led to the creation of several
villages, whose every necessary of life is
brought from long distance.
A few years ago water sold on the Alta
CANA desert for $40 the arroba, or about
S2 so per gallon, and drink for a mule
cost fifteen shillings, or 1878. Finally,
at place in the desert called Carmen
Alto, sun condenser with 80, 900 square
feet of glass was employed to
distil fresh water from that of
the sea. This was afterward
wrecked by a whirlwind, but smaller
apparatus on the same principle is now
being worked at Sierra Gordo, and re-
alizes a handsome profit, though the
water sells for only thirty cents the
arroba. Most of the coast towns and in
land factories are now supplied by means
of condensed steam, some of the con-
densers producing no less than twenty
five tons of good water for every ton of
coal burned in the boilers. More recent
schemes have been started for supplying
the coast towns with water by means of
pipes running across the desert from
springs at the foot of the mountains.
Iquiqui, Taltal, Antofogasta and Mol
lendo are supplied in this manner, and
other similar aqueducts are being con-
structed.
The portion of the pGmpa in which
English-speaking people are most inter.
ested is that lying between Iquiqui and
Pisagua-the celebrated "Tamarugal
Pampa," where lie the Tarapaca beds
and where colony of Northern ''Nitrate
Kings" have accumulated their millions
A high, chilly upland, about twenty
miles across, separates the outer Sierra of
Huatacondo from the higher range of the
Cordllle-a; and then the Andes slope
sharply down to the plateau of Bolivia,
1900 feet above the sea
The surface of the desert is not sharp
sand, but dry earth mixed with a certain
proportion of sandy particles, and irri-
CATION would turn every rod of it into
fertile plain. Wherever wells have
been sunk, alternate layers of gravel,
sand and mud are disclosed, each series
of layers representing the sequence of a
single food in former ages; hence it fol-
lows that in times long past the pampa
must have been subject to periodical in
undations. Water may be found almost
anywhere, at the depth of from fifty to
15O feet; but no place has yet been dis
covered where the conditions necessary
for artesiau wells are fulfilled. .-Paila.
dslphia Record.