THE NITRATE FIELDS OF CHILE 



219 



Cars of caliche, after crushing, going up the inclined planes to the maquina. 

 Empty car comes down as full car goes up. 



into smaller pieces with a heavy hammer. This is the process of nitrate 

 mining. ISTo operation could be simpler. 



If the miner works by the day, he is known as a barretero, literally 

 a " crowbar man." If he is paid according to the amount of caliche 

 mined, as the most energetic prefer to do, he is a particular, or private 

 worker. The former earns about 6 pesos to 7 pesos a day, while the 

 latter, under favorable conditions, often makes 9 pesos to 12 pesos 

 a day. A group of particulares, working early and late, quickly dispels 

 any idea that no people of that part of the world will work hard. 



Carts or trains of small dumping cars carry the caliche to the 

 maquina, as the refining plant is called. Here it is first crushed into 

 pieces no larger than a man's fist. From the crushers it goes up in- 

 clined planes to the boiling tanks, or cachuchos as they are still known, 

 though earthen pots have been replaced by great iron affairs 32 feet 

 long, 9 feet wide and 8 feet deep, capable of holding 70 tons. The 

 newest maquinas have twenty to thirty of these tanks. "WTien the 

 charge of caliche is in, water is added, steam is turned into a coil of 

 pipes which runs around inside the tanks, and the boiling process 

 begins to dissolve out the soluble nitrates from the insoluble and worth- 

 less earthy substances. Thus the industry, which in one respect owes 

 its existence to absence of water, must have water in order to operate, 

 for nowhere are there large amounts of caliche rich enough to ship 

 without refining, and the process of leaching is the only economical 

 method of refining. 



Much Australian and English coal, costing 35 pesos to 50 pesos or 

 more per ton, is used to generate the steam. About half a million tons 

 of coal have been imported for this purpose in recent years; but the 



