Humberstone, Chile
Humberstone is a ghost town in the Atacama of Chile. Developed for the extraction of saltpeter, it is a Chilean National Monument and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site designated as Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works. History. The town was founded as "La Palma" in 1872 for workers at the adjacent potassium nitrate extraction plant of the Peruvian Nitrate Company. James Thomas Humberstone later became the CEO of the Peruvian Nitrate Company.