CHAPTER VIII
A LABORATORY OF NATURE
The great desert of Tarapacá, which stretches along the coast of Chile for hundreds of miles, has proven to be the most valuable of its entire possessions. And yet it is as barren a desert as one could find on the surface of the globe. Darwin thus describes a part of it that he travelled over: “A complete and utter desert. The road was strewn with the bones and dried skins of the many beasts of burden which had perished on it from fatigue. Excepting the vulture which preys on the carcasses, I saw neither bird, quadruped, reptile, nor insect. On the coast mountains at the height of about two thousand feet, where during the season the clouds generally hang, a very few cacti were growing in the clefts of the rock, and the loose sand was strewn over with a lichen which grows quite unattached. In some parts it was of sufficient quantity to tinge the sand, as seen from a distance, of a pale yellowish colour.” It is this dry climate that has made possible the existence of the great nitrate deposits along this coast. Rainfall, even in moderate quantities, would dissolve the nitrate. These deposits lie as a rule just within the coast range of mountains.
Many theories have been advanced as to the cause of this chemical composition. The most ingenious one, perhaps, is that nitric acid is formed by a flash of lightning passing through a moist atmosphere, and electrical storms are very common in the Cordilleras. The other is that this coast was originally submerged in the ocean, and was gradually upheaved. This would leave a line of lagoons and marshes, in which seaweed and other plants flourished. As the lagoons successively dried up, the plants would be decomposed and nitric acid and iodine formed. This, united in combination with the gypsum-yielding soda found there, formed nitrate of soda. At any rate, Nature, by some mysterious process, has formed a chemical combination which has been of inestimable value to the world in general.
This desert coast is not all productive of nitrate. Some sections are valueless, and some produce other chemical products. One can take a narrow-gauge train at Antofagasta and travel inland for hundreds of miles across the Andes and into the plateaus of Bolivia, and the entire distance is almost as void of green as the great Sahara Desert. Occasionally there is a scrubby tree which looks forlorn in its loneliness. There are salt plains which reach to the hills on either side. In one place there is a great salt field that is estimated to cover more than eighty thousand acres. This produces almost pure chloride of sodium in crystallized form. The thickness of the salt layer is not known, but some wells are as much as eighty feet deep and the bottom of the deposit has not been reached. It is a good quality of salt. There are borax lakes along the route, where enough borax can be secured to supply the entire world. But it is from the beds of nitrate of soda that the greatest wealth of this region is secured. To it is due the prosperity of all the ports from Pisagua to Taltal.
This chemical product, which we call Chilean saltpetre, and which is locally known as _salitre_, is found over hundreds of square miles of territory. The only visible boundaries between the different owners are marked by white posts at the corners of the different properties. With this exception there are no marks whatever on the landscape, and no signs of life except the factories, known as _oficinas_, the numerous homes of the employees made of corrugated iron, and the workmen who are engaged in blasting and hauling away this mineral. The nitrate beds follow the coast line at a distance of from fifteen to a hundred miles from the sea, generally at an elevation of from four thousand to five thousand feet, and in deposits which vary from one to four miles in width. They reach from near Antofagasta to a point some distance north of Iquique. In some places the deposits play out, but they reappear again a little farther on. The fields that have been exploited look as though they had been ploughed over by gigantic ploughs, for immense clods are scattered here and there wherever the work has been carried on. On either side of this strip there is simply a mass of sand and rock, which extends from the sea to the topmost peaks of the Andes. There is, however, a wonderful colouring on the slopes of the mountains, and one will see many tints of violet, green, lemon and gray within the horizon.
Nitrate of soda is seldom found pure, and the nitrate rock, called _caliche_, will vary from ten to sixty per cent. of the pure mineral. In some fields it is found on the top of the soil, and in others it is as much as forty feet beneath the surface, with the strata of salt rock on the top of it. It varies considerably in composition. Holes are dug or drilled down through the _caliche_ until a bed of gravelly material is reached, into which charges of dynamite or blasting powder are placed, and the nitrate rock is thus loosened up. When first exposed the nitrate is sometimes as soft as cheese, but it hardens on contact with the air. The lumps thus broken are then dug out with picks or crowbars and hauled in mule-carts to the _oficinas_.
There are many of these mills throughout the nitrate fields, and they are busy places. The lumps are first crushed, and are then lifted by elevators and placed in huge tanks filled with sea water. These tanks are encircled by coils of steam pipes, which heat the water that is poured in with the rock to any desired temperature. Nitrate is soluble in water, and this purifying process rests upon the fact of its greater solubility in water heated to the boiling point, than the other salts with which it is associated. When the water has become supersaturated in the boiling tanks, the nitrate of soda in solution is drawn into shallow vats which are exposed to the air. At this state it looks like pale maple molasses. As it cools, the nitrate of soda crystallizes in the vats, together with a little common salt and a small amount of other impurities, and the sides become covered with white sparkling crystals like alabaster. These crystals are then shovelled upon drying boards and exposed to the sun for a time, after which they are graded and put into bags weighing a little over a hundred pounds each. This product, which is ninety-six per cent. chemically pure nitrate of soda, is then transported to the seacoast, from whence it is shipped to Europe or the United States, the latter country receiving about one-fifth of the whole.
Another product of these nitrate beds is iodine, which remains in the liquid after the removal of the nitrate. This liquid is poured into smaller pans, and is chemically treated until the iodine is precipitated in the form of a black powder. This is then heated in a retort which changes it to a vapour, and it is again condensed into beautiful violet crystals. The iodine is packed in small casks which are shipped with bullion and other valuables, for each cask is worth several hundred dollars. As the consumption of iodine is not very large the _oficinas_ refine only a part of the iodine in order to keep up the price.
More than two million tons of nitrate of soda were shipped from Chile last year, which is the greatest amount that has ever been produced. It has been found especially valuable for increasing the growth of the sugar beets in Europe, as it seems to provide the soil with the essential elements for their growth. The consumption in the United States is increasing rapidly, and it is looked upon as the best fertilizer provided by nature. According to horticultural authorities it has been found especially efficacious in stimulating the growth of vegetables, such as cabbages, onions, carrots, beets, etc., and for field crops of many kinds. It is said that even the Incas of Peru were acquainted with its value as a fertilizer. It is also extensively used in the manufacture of gunpowders and other high explosives, which in itself makes a considerable demand.
The discovery of the value of nitrate as a fertilizer was by accident. A poor Scotchman, who lived near where Iquique now stands, had a small garden which he cultivated with great care. One day he noticed that a part of his garden, which had been banked up with soil containing this mysterious white substance, flourished much more than the rest. This led to experiments and some of this soil was sent back to Scotland. The success of the experiments that followed gradually led to the development of the present industry, but the discoverer died as poor as he was born. The first nitrate works were established at Noria in 1826. It was not until after the war between Chile and Peru that the industry reached great proportions. Then an Englishman by the name of North began its development and soon afterwards became known as the “nitrate king.” Other nitrate princes rose, and thrived like the bonanza mining kings of Mexico and Peru in their best days. Englishmen became peers of that country through the influence of colossal fortunes paved with saltpetre. In its raw state the nitrate contains some properties injurious to plant life, but these are removed. As this process requires the latest modern machinery to do the work economically, the business has drifted into the hands of big combinations of capital.
As the government of Chile exacts an export tax on every sack of nitrate of soda exported, the revenue from this source is enormous and pays more than two-thirds of the expenses of that extravagant government. Chile owns practically all the nitrate of soda in the world. Small quantities have been found elsewhere, but in this region are the only deposits that can be operated at a profit. Most of the nitrate fields at one time belonged to Peru, but Chile appropriated them as indemnity, after a disastrous war was waged between the two countries in 1880, in which Chile was victorious. You can not meet a Peruvian anywhere to-day who does not swear vengeance against Chile, for thus robbing his country of her greatest source of wealth.
English capital has developed this great industry in Chile, and no less than one hundred million dollars in British sovereigns have been invested in these dreary wastes. Almost one hundred million dollars’ worth of this _salitre_ has been exported in a single year. The ports are at all times filled with vessels which have brought coal and merchandise, and are awaiting a load of nitrate. It is seldom that the Stars and Stripes are seen floating from a masthead, but it is a welcome sight to an American. The profits for a few years were so great that an overdevelopment followed, and the price greatly dropped. Then a trust agreement was, arrived at limiting the output, but even that was not a success and the production is again unlimited. The population of the nitrate district is a cosmopolitan one, and represents almost every nation on the face of the earth. It gives employment to many thousands of persons. A homesick and stranded American is not an uncommon sight.
It is estimated that at the present rate of mining the known fields of nitrate of soda in Chile will be exhausted in fifty years, or less. The official board of engineers has recently reported to the Chilean government that there are in sight four and a half million quintals (220.4 lbs.) of nitrate in the deposits of the country. A previous estimate had fixed the visible quantity at less than half that amount. It is doubtful whether either of those estimates is very reliable. At any rate the government and owners of the _oficinas_ are pushing the sales in every way, and exploiting the use and value of nitrate as though it was inexhaustible. It is possible that similar deposits may be found on the Sahara Desert, or some of our own desert lands where similar climatic and atmospheric conditions exist. The value of nitrate lands in Chile has risen rapidly in recent years, and nearly all the undeveloped fields are now owned by the Chilean government, which auctions them off as the need for money arises.
The nitrate industry has very naturally overshadowed all other mining enterprises in Chile, and especially in the northern section. And yet there are many more mining industries even in that part of the republic. The Spaniards cared for nothing but gold and silver and set thousands of Indians at work in the mines at Tucapel, Valdivia, and Quillota. The Malga Malga mines, near the latter town, and the Madre de Dios (mother of God) mines, near Mariguina, were the best producers of the yellow metal. The district around Taltal also produced gold and silver. By the primitive processes of the Spaniards only a portion of the ore was extracted. The refuse has since been refined, and even houses have been torn down that had been constructed of the by-products of the old amalgamation process. Some of this refuse contained as much as sixty ounces of pure silver to the ton. The total production of silver and gold to-day is not great when compared with the other gold-producing nations. Among the best mines now being worked are the Caracoles silver mines, which are inland from Antofagasta a little over one hundred miles, and the Inca Caracoles mines, which are fifty miles further inland. The total output of these mines during the years they have been worked reaches big figures, but the balmiest days have passed. Some of the workings have reached a depth of twenty-five hundred feet. The ores are generally chlorides or iodides, with mixtures of sulphides, but pockets of almost pure silver are occasionally found.
Copper production is next in value after nitrate. There are smelting plants at Caldera, Cerro Blanco, Jarilla, Antofagasta, and other places. Central Chile is the copper country, although Lota is one of the greatest producers. The surface oftentimes shows the green outcroppings of the copper deposits. The superior attraction of the nitrate fields has at times caused a scarcity of labour there so that the development has been greatly hampered. Nevertheless the copper industry has been a fairly profitable and steady one. The annual output ranges from thirty-five thousand to forty thousand tons, but it is doubtless capable of considerable further development, with the aid of more modern methods and the installation of the latest machinery.
Iron ore has been found in only small quantities. Chile has the best coal mines in South America, which, in 1909, produced a little less than a million tons, not quite half of the consumption. Coal was first discovered at Lota more than a century ago, but the deposits were not worked until a half-century later. The only mines now being worked are in the provinces of Concepción and Arauco. As small veins have been found at Punta Arenas, it may be that the seams of coal run all the way between those points. It is rather an inferior quality of bituminous coal. More than a million tons are imported yearly, of which a little more than one-half comes from England and the balance from Australia. The shipping rate is very low as the boats come after cargoes of nitrate and will carry coal at a very cheap rate rather than be obliged to make the long outward journey in ballast.