CHAPTER XIV

NITRATE OF SODA AN ALADDIN’S LAMP

Extensive Use of Nitrates as Fertilizers--Enormous Contributions to Chilean Revenues--_Résumé_ of Exportations--Description of the Industry--How the Deposits Lie--Iodine a By-product--Stock of Saltpetre in Reserve--The Trust and Production--Estimates of Ultimate Exhaustion--A Third of a Century More of Prosperous Existence--Shipments Not Affected by Panama Canal--Copper a Source of Wealth--Output in Northern Districts--Further Development--Coal--Silver Mines Productive in the Past--Prospect of Future Exploitation 217