MAJnTFAOTTTEE OP NITBATE OF SODA. 277 



the largest establishment of its kind in the world, form the 

 subject of this Paper. 



In September, 1882, the Author received instructions from 

 the directors of the Liverpool Nitrate Company, Limited, who 

 own 6 square miles of nitrate grounds in the district of Ramirez 

 in the province of Tarapaca, to prepare plans and estimates for 

 the construction of an oficina capable of producing from 

 6,000 to 6,500 tons of nitrate of soda per month, this total being 

 1,000 tons more than was in the power of the largest oficina 

 then extant. In January, 1883, the plans and specifications 

 were laid before the directors and approved of, and the Author 

 was instructed to order the necessary machinery (Plate 7). Six 

 steel boilers, 30 feet long by 6 feet 6 inches, double flues, with six 

 Gralloway tubes, were constructed by Messrs. R. Daglish & Co., 

 of St. Helen's. Twelve boiling- tanks with steel condensing 

 tubes, ninety crystallizing-tanks, two feeding-tanks, a five- 

 compartment washing-tank, as well as three circular tanks, 25 

 feet in diameter by 12 feet high, came from the works of 

 Messrs. Preston, Fawcett, and Co. The locomotives and 

 rolling-stock, with a length of 2^ miles of portable railway, as 

 well as two semi-portable engines for the wells, were made by 

 Messrs. John Fowler and Co., of Leeds, and the engines, pumps, 

 machine-tools, &c., by Messrs. Tangye Brothers. And three 

 crushing-machines were made by Messrs. North, Humphrey, 

 and Dickinson, of the Tarapacd Foundry, Iquique. 



Having seen the contracts for plant properly placed, and 

 having purchased the machinery required for the wells for 

 immediate use, which was sent by steamer, the Author left for 

 Iquique, arriving there on the 15th of May. He at once 

 commenced making the necessary excavations for the founda- 

 tions for the machinery, which came by sailing vessels on the 

 10th and 29th of December. The first batch of crystallizing 

 tanks, which were shipped unriveted, reached the oficina on 

 the 23rd of December. 



Owing to the salt and other solvents contained in the soil, 

 the greatest care had to be taken in preparing the foundations 

 for the carrying walls, as, if only a small quantity of water 

 should penetrate to the foundations, they would immediately 



