THE NITRATE FIELDS OF CHILE 



2I 5 



In a cutting which shows the layer of caliche with almost no overlying material. 

 The tools shown are the only ones needed in mining caliche. 



ing of these nitrates. Fertilizers were then quite unheard of in most 

 places ; industrial uses of nitric acid and its compounds were few ; and 

 for making explosives— then gunpowder was the only one — small, scat- 

 tered deposits of true saltpeter provided the raw material. 



Nearly a hundred years ago, it is said, a Scotchman living near 

 Tquique spread over part of his garden some soil containing white crys- 

 tals. That part of his garden flourished much more than the rest. 

 Thereupon samples of the soil were sent to Scotland for experiments 

 which revealed the nature of the substance and its fertilizing value ; and 

 thus, so the story goes, the foundation was laid for the great nitrate in- 

 dustry. A decade later, or about 1826, a Frenchman is credited with 

 having established the first real nitrate works in the pampa back of 

 Iquique. Soon after that an Englishman, a German and a Chilean are 

 supposed to have followed suit, and the business began to grow slowly. 

 A little more than 8,300 tons of nitrate are said to have been exported 

 in 1830. 



The nitrate fields then were divided among three countries. Peru 

 owned Tacna and Tarapaca. Bolivia owned most of what is now Anto- 

 fagasta, while Chile owned from Atacama southward. This last region 

 was then not known to contain nitrate, and still is the least important 

 part of the fields. Peruvians and Chileans became most active in the 

 industry, perhaps because the fields were more easily reached from Peru 

 and Chile than from the highlands of Bolivia. The Chileans turned 

 their attention largely to the Bolivian province of Antofagasta, where 

 their influence became so marked that it is said not more than one per- 

 son in twenty was a Bolivian, and that one probably an officer in the 

 army. Important concessions were granted by Bolivia to Chilean inter- 



