Omaha daily bee., 1898-08-14

and arranges the fuse. He is then pulled
out and the fuse is lighted. 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 loaded upon iron carts to be taken
to the factory. Each Of these carts will
hold three tons of rock and each is hauled
by three mules, the driver sitting upon one
of the animals.
At the Factory.
The caliche or nitrate rock is taken in
these carts from the fields to the oficina or
factory. This usually stands in the midst
of the fields. 1t is a collection of buildings
with great smokestacks rising above them.
1t contains thousands of dollars worth Of
costly machinery, vast tanks for boiling the
nitrate rock, crushers like those of a smelter
to break it to pieces and settling watts in
which the liquor containing the pure nitrate
of soda is left until it has dropped Its bur-
den of valuable salt. The nitrate rock Of
the Aqua Santa fields as we saw it blasted
out of the earth has only about 40 per cent
Of nitrate of soda in 1t. The nitrate sent
to the markets is from 95 to SO per cent
pure and the rock must be so treated as to
bring about this result. This is done by
boiling the rock Just so much and no more.
The crushers reduce the caliche to pieces
about two inches thick, and it is then taken
to the boiling tanks, which are situated in
a building perhaps fifty feet above the
ground. These tanks are each big enough
to form a bath tub for an elephant. They
are twenty-four feet long, nine feet wide
and eight feet deep. In them there are coils
% H. f.- Ill L. ,--,- .-..
ing the temperature of the fluid in the tank
to any desired point. The caliche is car
ried in cars up an inclined railway and
dumped into the tanks. Then water is adj
mitted and is allowed to flow from tank to
tank in such a way as to act to the best
advantage on the salts within. The nitrate
of soda will remain in solution at a lower
temperature than other salts. This fact and
others of a scientific nature are taken ad-
vantage OF, everything being done with the
greatest care, and the result is that when
the liquor is drawn off nearly all of the
pure nitrate OF soda in the rock goes with
It.. 1t flows from the boiling tanks into
other tanks, which lie in the open air at a
lower level. 1t now looks for all the world
like pale maple molasses or thick lemon
syrup. In a short time it begins to crystal
lie and the tank is half sugar, which is
really almost pure nitrate OF soda. This is
now shoveled into piles, whence it is bagged
up in sacks of 800 pounds each and hauled
on the railroad to the seacoast to be ship
ped off to the United States or to Europe.
Lesson in Economy.
After the salts have settled in the tanks
the liquor which lies on top still contains
a large amount of nitrate. 1t is conveyed
back to the boiling tanks and is loaded
with ore nitrate by being flowed over the
fresh rock. / shall not describe the
technical details of the process, which is
complicated in the extreme. They were ex-
planned to me by Mr.. James 7. Humber
stone, the manager of the Aqua Santa
ohcina, the man who is perhaps of all the
nitrate managers the best posted upon such
matters. / will only say that the greatest
care is taken to get every atom OF nitrate
out of the rock at the lowest possible cost,
and that | was again and again surprised
at the careful study which has been taken
to save every cent in product and labor
throughout the works. 1t was indeed a
lesson in economy, and when / referred to
1t Mr.. Thunderstorm said: THE nitrate
profits OF today are a question of small
savings. We make so much that the diff
ference of a cent in the cost of a quintal,
or 100 pounds, is an important item. II
would, in fact, mean to US a saving of at
least 81, 200 a month"; Mr.. Humberstone
also showed me how the iodine Of com.