The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-14
How Nitrate Is Mined, What 1t Costs
and the Profits, with Notes of a
Visit to a Great Ohcina.
THE EXTENT OF THE DEPOSITS
THE NITRATE TOWNS AND SOME OF
THEIR PECULIAR FEATURES.
A 6OO-MiIe Ride over the Salt Plains
of Bolivia and Something About a
Borax Lake in the Andes.
(cOpyrIeht 1gsa. BY Franz G. carpenter.,

Copyright. 1885, by Frank G. Carpenter)
IQUlQUE. Chile, July 13-For the past
three weeks have been travelling through
a vast chemical laboratory of the gods.
have ridden over miles of plains covered
with salt, have visited lakes of the whitest
borax. have wound in and out among noun
tains rich in tin, copper and silver, and now
write almost IN the midst of the vast nitrate
fields of Chile bike unto which there is moth
ing on the face of the earth.
Leaving the silver mining town of Oruro,
Bolivia, came down the mountains on the
little narrow gauge which connects that
town with the seaport of Antofagasta. The
distance is six hundred miles. or about as
great as that between New York and Cleve-
land. The track is only two feet six inches
wide, and the road is, believe, the longest
one of this gauge in the world The cars
are Of the American style. having been built
in Massachusetts. The seats on one side of
the car are not wider than kitchen chair
and on the other, where they are supposed
to hold two, not more than thirty inches.
1t was, in fact, more like riding in a toy
car than on the through trunk line which
forms the only rail connection between two
great countries. Still, the road is smooth
and we'll laid. It's ties are of Oregon pine
and the stations upon it are as rule built
of corrugated iron from Europe The fares
are exceedingly high. l paid ffty-one silver
dollars for my ticket, and in addition $36
extra baggage, as nothing whatever is al
lowed free. My meals at the dining sta
tons each cost me $15O in silver, and when
l stopped at night, as 1 was forced to do
twice on the road, the hotel rates were 81
per day. The chief purpose of the road is
to carry the silver and other metals to the
seacoast The most of the cars Of our train
were loaded with little chunks of silver ore.
and we passed trainloads of tin on its way
to the Pacific.
SALT PLAINS OF BOLIVIA.
1t was ride through desert. Shortly
after leaving Oruro we entered the salt
plains of Bolivia. These are of vast extent,
lining the road for hundreds of miles. In
fact, there are but few places between Oru-
TO and the sea whene the ground is not
more or less u1ixedswith salt, and in some
districts it covers the land like a sheet of
dirty white snow. Along some parts of the
line it looks hard and icy. and you feel
like jumping off the cars for a skate At
others it lies in gullies and again it only
sprinkles the ground and ragged growth
of scrubby vegetation struggles up through
it's length through a desert valley, and the
salt reaches away on each side to the hills.
Here and there along the road are lakes
upon which seem to be floating great cakes
of ice. The cakes are not ice, however. They
are borax, and in the great borax lake of
Ascotan, Bolivia, there is enough borax to
wash the heads of all humanity This lake
has, it is estimated, more than 200 tons
of pure borax ready to be shipped to the
markets of the world. / saw it on my left
as 1 rode over the railroad on the way to
the coast. 1t is about six miles square, and
the borax in ii lies in great masses, which,
when taken out look for all the world like
the finest of pure white spun silk wadded
up or woven into Jumps The stuff is borax
of lime, and is not good, am told as the
borax that comes from similar lakes in
California. STILL it is of considerable value,
for the lake has just been sold to a syndi-
cate of Germans for 100000
A DESERT PAVED WITH GOLD.
This lake, however, is not drop in the
ocean compared with the enormous value
of the nitrate fields through which 1 crossed
as / neared the Pacific. These fields extend
north and south through this part of Chile
for a distance of more than three hundred
miles, and their product is SO valuable that
gold. They have produced millions upon
millions of tons of nitrate Of soda, and it is
estimated that more than twelve hundred
thousand tons of nitrate will be shipped
from them this year. The value of these
nitrate deposits runs high into the millions
of dollars. When they were in the hands of
the Peruvians they were rich and now that
they belong to Chile as a result of her war
with Peru she gets more than half her rev.
enue from the export duty which she coll
lects from them. The working of the fields
is in the hands of foreigners, and more than
500, 000O 900 worth of English capital is invest
ed in the great oficinas factories by
means of which the nitrate is taken from
the earth and prepared for the markets of
the world. Vast fortunes have been made
out of these nitrate fields i met in Eng
land some years ago the late Colonel North
the nitrate king, and visited him al his
magnificent country place at Ethan, near
London. He lived there like a prince and
was at the time fairly rolling in wealth. All
of his money was made in this region and
the champagne which he had at dinner,
though it's taste showed no evidence of the
fact, was efferv with nitrate of soda.
The nitrate which the United States import
ed from this Iquique district alone in 1897
cost more than three million gold dollars,
and the amount was more than $4,000 900
pounds. The greater part of this has gone
into the making Of powder and high expIo-
sives. and much of it has already been used
in the war with Spain. Another part of it
has been sold as fertilizers, and is now en-
riching the soil of American farms. 1t is as
q fertilizer that the chief, demand for the
nitrate comes. the bulk of the product going
to Germany, where it is used in the growing
of the sugar beet. Just now, however, the
nitrate business is not as prosperous as it
has been. number of the factories are
idle and the markets are overstocked.
IN THE NITRATE FIELDS.
Ny first view of the nitrate fields was on
the railroad going to Antofagasta The de-
posts in that part of Chile, however, are
not so good as those farther north, and
have taken ship and come to Iquique which
is the chief shipping port of the best
nitrate fields Of the world. have travelled
from here 10 some of the richest fields and
have spent day at the great nitrate oficina
of the Aqua Santa Company. which has
capital Of 100000 and which produces MIL
lions Of pounds of nitrate month. But be-
fore describe the method Of getting this