The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-06-23

| passage and Lynn canal Of the Alas
kan coast.
When Chile Expanded.
1t is the extreme northern portion
of Chile as shown by the maps that
is now the center of interest. Chile
did not always have n length Of 300
miles. Until the last quarter of the
past century, the northern boundary
of the country fell more thar 500
miles short of its present position.
North Of it Bolivia owned Il coastal
strip 200 miles or more in length, and
PeIu'S southern border extended some
300 miles farther south than ii does to-
day. All OF this region, which now
forms the northernmoSt 500 miles Of
Chile, was considered of little worth,
and much OF it had not been explored.
When extensive nitrate deposits
were discovered in the Bolivian por-
ton of the coastal strip in the sixties,
there was q rush like that to Califor-
MAS gold fields in 1910. A large pro-
portion Of the newcomers were Chill
cans. Friction arose between Chilean
mining companies and Bolivian tax
collectors, and finally in 1870 war
broke out between Chile and Bolivia.
Peru was drawn in as an ally OF BO-
livia, and the three-cOrnered war ran
on for several years. At its con
clusion Chile vas completely victor.
ious and extended her boundaries at
the expense of the two vanquiShed
countries. Bolivia became "the Swift
Zerland of America" in a double sense /;
it is not only perched high among
mountains, but by the loss Of it's Pa
cilc provinces it became completely
landlOcked. This mountain country
has attempted in recent years to buy
from Chile a corridor" to the sea
Since the war Of the Pacific, as 1t
was called, Peru has had toward Chile
the relations which Italy held toward
Austria in the late Nineteenth and
early Twentieth centuries. Tacna and
africa have constituted it's "Peru IRE
denta,'' and all it's leaders have
dreamed OF restoring the lost prov
inceS.
Economically, Chile has prOfited
greatly by the war Of the Pacific. Out
Of the former Peruvian province Of
Tarapaca and the former Bolivian pro-
vince Of Atacama (nOw the Chilean
Antofagasta) have been taken since
the war nitrates worth many millions
of dollars, and much remains to be
extracted. Valuable deposits Of nj
trate have come TO light, too, In Tacna
since the war. The export tax on nj
trates supplies nearly three-fourths Of
the income Of the government. Incl
dentally, in Tacna is one Of the few
areas along this desert portion of the
coast capable Of producing crops, and
the section is therefore Of great strate-
pick factors which make the Tacna-
africa problem much more than a mere
question whether a plebiscite shall be
held to assign the region permanently
to either Peru or Chile.
Santiago the Capital.
Santiago is the chief city Of Chile,
but not in the same degree as BuenOs
Aires is Of the Argentine republic.
Buenos Aires has become almost the
republic itself, in the sense that Paris
is France; but Santiago is but the cap
ital Of the country, which has other
cities that may compare with it In To-
cal importance. Santiago contrasts
with. BuenOs Aires as the conservative
capital Of a small country with the me-
tropolis Of the continent. You feel liz
the Chilean capital the conservative
character of the people; in Buenos
Aires the liberal spirit of the world
city.
Valdivia and his successors, the in
vaders Of Chile in the Sixteenth CEN
fury, were soldiers bent solely on con-
quest, such as they had taken part in
in Peru, for immediate gain; whereas,
the colonists who in successive expe-
ditions founded BuenOs Aires came
with wives and children, with horses,
mares. and implements Of husbandry,
TO settle III me land. Thus there was
Il marked difference between Chile and
Argentina from the beginning.
The warning invaders Of Chile met
and mingled with q warlike Indian
race, the Araucvrians, and their issue
Is without question the most indie
pendent, the boldest, the most aggres-
sive Of South American peoples.