Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-08-13

the corners of the different properties. Out
sue OF these there are no marks. There is
no. . enough waste wood in tae whole desert
to make line fence about city lot.
There is not blade of grass and with the
exception of here and there a scrubhy tree
all is pare, gray desolate sand, with here
ana there a CLINT of white where the salt
rock has caught the rays of the sun There
are Few more barren places in the -yo1 Id
than the Chilean desert. The coasts of the
upper part of the country arc as bleak as
me most barren parts of the Rocky noun
ta.ns and this sand and rock extend in
iand almost to the tops of the Andes
Along the coast there is a low range of
loot hills rising in places to the height OF
this there is rolling valley which runs
from north to south, and on the other side
OF this valley the foot hills of the Andes
negln 1t Is along the western edge of this
Fahey mat the nitrate is found. In some
piaceS II is not more than fifteen miles and
In others as far as ninety miles from the
sea, but the deposits all lie along the west
ern edge of the valley, forming a strip of
an average width of about mile and nun
ming lrregularly, as l have said from ror.l,
TO south for distance of more than three
hundred miles. In some places the deposit
is Tour miles wide, and in others IL MIA v
out altogether and crops out some distance
Ipftner on. In some fields the nitrate rock
hes on the top of the ground In others n
Is found from thirty to forty feet below
Inc surface, with a strata of salt rock on
TOP or 1t. The nitrate Itself is seldom
found pure in nature though much of the
rock contains from 40 to 60 per cert of
nitrate The Antofagasta rock does not
contain more than Ii per cent of nitrate
and other fields vary with the nature of
the deposit 1t is the getting the nitr,t to
rock out of the earth and the cxtractioo
the pure nitrate salts from II that consti-
tutes the immense industry of the pamnas
or nitrate fields. AS to where the nitrate
comes from there are number az
he
the bed of an inland sea- and that the
nitrate came from the decaying of the nj
tTosenous sea weed. Another theory is that
the ammonia rising from the VAST hads nf
guano on the islands off the coast was COR
RED by the winds over the range of hills
near the sea and there condensed settled
ana united with other chemicals of the soil
10 form the deposits, and still a third is
that the electrical discharges Of thu, Andes
combined with the elements of the air to
make nitric acid This acid was CARRIED
down through the ages in the floods of
the Andes and was deposited on 1hasa hads
In the form of nitrate of soda None Of
these theories are entirely satisfactory and
as yet no one has absolutely solved the
problem as to whence the nitrate comes.
How Nitrate is Mined,
we shall see how nitrate is mined by a
visit to the great pampa Of Tamrugal.
IEis pamoa or field has sixty miles of
oficinas and nitrate fields. A railroad has
been built through it to carry the nitrate
t. the seacoast at IQuique, and upon II has
grown up vast factories, towns of CORFU
gated iron huts, in which the tens of hon
saEds OF workmen employed in the BUSH
ness live ald the homes of the scores of
WelI-educated Europeans who live here and
manage the properties Leaving Iquique
the railroad carries you I'D the hills and
DrirSs you right into the nitrate fields
Y GU are soon IL plain about twenty miles
wide with low hills rising upward on the
right and the left. On the side of this
plain nearest the sea the earth looks as
Though 1t had been plowed by giants and
II lies In mammoth clods of all shapes and
sizes. This is the nitrate fields which
have been or are being worked. The rest
OF the land Is bleak, bare sand. There is
no vegetation and no sign of life of any
kid. All is sand, salt rock and amid the
ciods nitrate rock which is called caliche
1t is soluble rock of different colors In
some places 1t is almost white and looks
liEe rock salt In others it is yellow, and
in others all shades of gray lemon violet
ard green The strata of nitrate usually
lies two feet or more under the earth, and
there is often salt rock or conglomerate
above It, The method of getting it out is
to bore round hole about a foot in diam
eler through the upper crust and to ex-
tend it down for few inches into the
SOFT earth below it. Now into this hole a
boy is let down. He scoops out a pocket
Tor the blasting powder and arranges the
fuse He is then pulled out and the fuse
Is nghted An explosion follows. A great
yellow cloud of smoke and dust goes up
into the air and the earth is broken up
for a radius of about thirty feet about
the hole. The nitrate rock is now dug off
with picks and crowbars 1t is broken into
pieces of thirty pounds or less and is load
ed upon iron carts to be taken to the fac
tery Each of these carts will hold three
tons OF rock ard each is hauled by three
mules. the driver sitting upon one of tho
animals.
At the Factory.
The caiiche or nitrate rock is taken in
these carts from the fields to the ofcina or