26 R. A. F. PENROSE, JR. 



of from 50 to 1,00 feet. Some water is also obtained by piping from 

 the foot of the Andes. 



Companies, towns, cities, and railways. — The nitrate industry is 

 carried on largely by companies, and the establishments at which 

 their operations are conducted are known as oficinas. Among 

 some of the best-known oficinas in Tarapaca are the Alianza, Agua 

 Santa, Camiha, Josefina, La Granja, Central Lagunas, North La- 

 gunas. South Lagunas, Puntunchara, Puntilla de Huara, Rosario de 

 Huara, Ramirez, Santa Lucia, Santiago, Union, and many others. 

 In 1907 there were almost one hundred oficinas in the Tarapaca 

 region and about one hundred and fifty in all Chile (see Fig. 6) . 



Many small towns have grown up on the Tarapaca Pampa as 

 a result of the nitrate industry, among them being Dolores, Santa 

 Catalina, Negreiros, Huara, Pozo Almonte, La Noria, Lagunas, 

 Tapiga, San Antonio, etc. The oficinas that are not at any of the 

 towns have become small communities in themselves, with large 

 cap'acious buildings for the administration of the works, houses for 

 the employees, stores, schools, etc. 



The chief ports for the shipment of the nitrate of the province 

 of Tarapaca are Iquique on the south and Pisaqua on the north, the 

 former being by far the more important and the real headquarters of 

 the nitrate trade of this province. They are both connected with the 

 nitrate fields by railway. Iquique is a flourishing city of about 

 50,000 inhabitants (see Fig. 7), and Pisaqua has about 5,000. 

 Smaller ports from which Tarapaca nitrate is shipped are Junin 

 and Caleta Buena, both lying between Iquique and Pisaqua. 

 Farther south, the seaports of Tocopilla, Antofagasta, Taltal, etc., 

 are important shipping-points for the nitrates of the province of 

 Antofagasta. 



The Nitrate Railways Company (an English corporation) owns a 

 line running inland from Iquique to the Tarapaca Pampa and then 

 branching out through the nitrate iields. It intersects the pampa from 

 Pisaqua on the north to Lagunas on the south, a distance in a straight 

 line of over one hundred miles and much farther as the railroad goes, 

 besides having many lateral branches, its aggregate length being 

 about three hundred miles. Many of the nitrate works located 

 to one side or the other of the railroad are connected with it by branch 



