Omaha daily bee., 1914-09-13

II II bNNh NAdNNAlAib NuluubiA pilc Va
- the richest lands of the world,
fS&S a land that turns out more
S=SSSSJ dollars than the valleys Of the
Nile. the Euphrates OF the
Ganges, and one whose workable
area makes the S200-an-acre corn fields
OF Illinois look like 30 cents This land
is as barren as the Sahara. 1t has not
a plant, q tree a blade of grass nor any
green thing. 1t is land where one often
has to 80 a hundred miles for a drink
and one upon which the rains never fall
1t is land made up of rocks, stone and
sand. and of salty particles that reflect
the rays of the tropical sun inflaming
the eyes. 1t is the great nitrate fields
aown this west coast from below Anto-
!agasta to the Peruvian boundary
For generation and more these nitrate
aelds have made Chile richer than any
other South American country, and today
hey bring to its annual revenues an
amount equal to $40 for every family in
he republic. Since 1889 the total rev.
'nue from nitrate export duties has been
)ver 100000 600 in gold, and If the pres
INT rate of production continues during
he next twenty-five years the amount
will be three-quarters of billion more.
Today the nitrate fields are paying from
90 to so per cent of all the government
Expenses and, In addition, are yielding
ortunes to those who exploit them.
Chief Nitrate POini.
Antofagasta, where this letter is writ
ten, is one of the chief nitrate ports It
Is 2400 miles from the Panama canal.
and 1t will soon have a procession of nj
uate ships sailing northward to the
United States and Europe. Today the
vessels are still going around by the
Strait of Magellan. and the distance thus
saved will be thousands of miles. The
bulk of the nitrate exports are now con-
trolled by an American syndicate, known
as the Nitrate Agencies, Limited. This
company exports in the neighborhood of
l,OO0OO0,00O pounds OF nitrate a year and
controls about one-fourth of the product
Its ships are always loading at the nitrate
ports and starting out for the United
States, Europe or far-off Japan. The
syndicate has considerable British cap
tal, but It Is under American managers
and its methods are entirely American.
The controlling influence and largest
owners are w. r. Grace & Co. of New
York and London, firm that has its
nitrate deposits and factories scattered
throughout the desert from here to Peru.
But first let me tell you something
about nitrate of soda 1t is one of the
richest fertilizers on earth and it has
doubled the crop of many an American
farm. II is used largely in Germany.
where it is employed In raising sugar
beets, and in the United States, which is
now buying more than 100000, 600 pounds
of II every year. We take about one-fifth
of the product, and now that the canal
is completed shall probably take more.
Among the other large consumers in Eu-
rope are Great Britain, France, Holland
and Belgium. 1t is largely used in the
Hawaiian Islands and also in little Japan,
the latter country now importing about
5,oooO0o pounds every month.
Looks Like. Salt.
Nitrate of soda when taken out of the
ground and purified looks just like white
salt. It is made up of small crystals or
grains, and it Is in this shape that il is
shipped to the markets. 1t is put up in
bags or 200 pounds each. and is carried
from the ports out to the steamers in
lighters.
The nitrate beds begin at some distance
below Antofagssta and they run north
ward TO beyond the port of Iquique, a
distance Of 400 or 800 miles. It is claimed
that there IL some nitrate in Peru. but so
far the percentage has been so low that
the deposits are not worth the working.
The nitrate beds are found right out in
the desert. They lie at an altitude of sew
ersl thousand feet above the sea, on the
western slope of range OF low hills that
run along the coast. They are from
twenty to 100 miles back from the coast
and the belt in which they lie is seldom
more than ten miles in width 1t is
therefore not hard to get the stuff to the
seaboard and the most Of the haul is
down hill
The bed of nitrate is not regularly and
evenly distributed throughout Much of
II is in pockets. There is one salt field
in the province of Tarapaca that covers
an area Of more than $50 square miles
but there are others where the beds of
good nitrate are confined to few hun
dred acres, and the purity of the ore
varies greatly.
Near TO the Surface.
AS a general thing the nitrate is clean
10 the surface. Il crops out here and
there. and II seldom extends for more
than twenty feet below the surface OF
the desert.
As to whence these great fields OF
nitrate come, there are many different
theories. One is that this part Of Chile
was once the bed Of an inland sea, and
that the nitrate came from the decaying
OF the nitrogenous seaweed. Another
theory Is that the ammonia which arose
from the vast beds OF guano in the is
lands OF the west coast was carried bv
the winds to the mainland where II con-
densed and united with the other cheni- |
calls OF the soil TO form the deposits. A