Omaha daily bee., 1898-08-14

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 SO
| good, 1 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 syndicate of Germans for
ESQ, 900 sterling.
Desert Paved With Gold.
This lake. however, is not a drop in the
ocean compared with the enormous value
of the nitrate fields through which I crossed
as l neared the Pacific. These fields ex-
tend north and south through this part of
Chilli for a distance Of more than 300 miles,
and their product is SO valuable that they
almost pave the desert of Chilli with gold.
They have produced millions upon millions
of tons of nitrate of soda, and it is esti-
mated that more than 1900 900 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
Chilli as a result of it's war with Peru, it
gets more than half its revenue from the
export duty which it collects from them.
The working of the fields is in the hands
Of foreigners, and more than 500, 900, 900
worth of English capital is invested in the
great oiCinas or 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. l met in England some years ago the
late Colonel North, the nitrate king, and
visited him at 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 we
had at dinner, though its taste showed no
evidence Of the fact, was effervescent with
nitrate Of soda. The nitrate which the
United States imported from this Iquique
district alone In 1897 cost more than S3,-
600, 1000 in gold and the amount was more
than 234, 600, 900 pounds, The greater part of
this has gone into the making of powder and
high explosives, and much of it has already
been used In the war with Spain. Another
part of 1t has been sold as fertilizers, and
is now enriching the soil OF American
farms. 1t Is as a fertilizer that the chief
demand for the nitrate comes, the bulk of
the product going to Germany, where 1t is
used in the growing of the sugar beet.
Just now, however, the nitrate business is
not as prosperous as it has been. A num-
Der OF the factories are idle, and the markets
are overstocked.
In the Nitrate Fields.
My first view OF the nitrate fields was on
the railroad going to Antofagasta. The de-
posits in that part of Chill, however. are
not so good as those further north and I
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 TO some of the richest fields and have
spent a day at the great nitrate ohcina of
the Aqua Santa company. which has a can
ital of S3,O00,O 900 and which produces mill
lions OF pounds of nitrate a month. But
before l describe the method Of getting this
product out of the earth let me show you
where these wonderful fields are. In the
hrst place the word fields is misleading. 1t
conveys the idea of fences and fixed bouuda-
ries. The nitrate fields are scattered over
the desert and their only boundaries are
white posts at the corners of the different
properties, Outside Of these there are no
marks, There is not enough waste wood
in the whole desert to make a line fence
about a city lot. There is not a blade of
grass. and, with the exception of here and
there a scrubby tree, all is bare, gray desc
late sand, with here and there
a CLINT OF white where the salt
rock has caught the rays OF the sun. There
are few more barren places in the world
than the Gillian desert. The coasts OF the
upper part OF the country are as bleak as