The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-04-03

SET their information from a hack driv>
er- These fussE, Grabbed old fellows
are the ones than cause the demand FOR
consular reform.
The Deserts Challenge.
AfterWards il was agreed that the
consui might De forgiven his pcevish-
ness because ne had 10 live I'm Ante
fasasta which is really quite as bad
as IT'S name. BY right &c is no place. fo-
white folks 70 live. The huge bulk al "a
naked mountain oVershadows it, ard
me sun lalrly shrivels IT, I'll is q bls-
tered. dust ridden transfer station be-
tween the desert and tho ocean The
rev sicily looking green things TO DO
seen are kept alive by constant nurqIn1.
WITH water that coIGcs through q u-n..
80 miles long. u is said no other nla
IN the world has such long aQuaduer
fy leather busters iE Tho whip glalzcr-
o. their cabs because they need therl
more IMAM WHIPS. and the barfender-
nav 70 cater 10 The fiercest thirs,s ou
ON one side of the lead colorcd buila-
ihss along the wharf. che word nitrate
! ~ spelled out in big black letters Tt ,
explains she presence OF he white re.-
pie. and OF The town itself We're -
not Tor nitrate the lizards would solr,
De leIt ne possession of the shifting
S4huS OF Antofagasta. The white. Ieo-
E A-". NtAnf-i4 ilflaAll treasure
desert out they have had 10 pay FOR no..
high up on the mountain are tho CLEAN
ms snalJs OF an oTergr0Wn graveyard.
The tnickly studded head stones flash
m the sun as If TO signal YOU Tho des-
erts warning and It's challenge. n is
I 20 easy thing to live where your dri1k-
lhS water must come through "a uipe
$50 miles long. We forgive the con-
SUI.
Nitrate is used principally rs a ferii-
llzer, and Germany buys more eff ft
man any other country. To is very
valuable in the cultivation of the sugar
beet. In some localities the nitrate
rock is found on the surface. of the
ground, but generally it Is from TWEEN
ty-five 10 forty feet below the surface.
The rock in which 10 is found runs
about half nitrate and the balauc.
waste Tt is blasted and the process Is
very simple. A hole is bored. filed with
a charge OF powder. and touched Off
The rock - separated by picks and
hauled TO the factory by mules. where
II is reduced by a boiling process. The
pure nitrate of soda is shipped III bags
The iodine of commerce is another val
liable constituent of the nitrate rock
Many millions of dollars are invested
IN the equipment of the foreign com
panieS which are turning the floor on
the Chilean desert upside down i'm their
search for nitrate The local govern
lneht gets n snare or the profits. but the
most Of the earnings go 90 Europe ana
never come back
Monkeys, Lace and Opals."
The various communities along the
coast which owe their existence to the
nitrate industry. are supplied with pro-
visions by weekly steamers Merchants
and vendors of garden truck and fruit
travel on the boats. They all do big
business As soon rs the ship comes TO
anchor, a swarm Of boatmen pull Off
for the shore, and the deck of the ship
soon looks like market place They
bring empty market baskets and then
take them back flied with oranges.
bananas meat and vegetables on one
of those steamers one can buy q box or
Havana cigars, a Panama hat. a par
rot. a monkey, or almost anything from
lace to opals. One trader started out
with 1900 parrots and about FIVE car
loads of oranges. The weather got. cool
and his oranges kept we'll but by the
time he had sold fOrty-five parrots the
rest were all dead He said: .sAh.
welll one time my parrot he die, some
other time my orange he rot. Ny busi-
ness is not all profit, you know"