Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0246Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of a group of people standing beside a large amount of filled sacks near train tracks. Above the image "T262 (Star)" is printed, below the image "22369 Nitrate for Agriculture and for War Being Sacked for Shipment. Chile." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company COPYRIGHTED Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
325 (22369)
DRYING AND SHIPPING NITRATE, CHILE
Lat. 21(Degrees) S.; Long. 70(Degrees) W.
Nitrate is an important chemical fertillizer. it is used to build up poor soils from which crops have largely taken the nitrogen. It is also the principal chemical used in making gunpowder and other explosives. The importance of nitrate duirng the World War could not be too much emphasized. It furnished powder for the armies, and it was also drawn upon heavily to grow the crops to feed the armies.
By far the greatest nitrate fields in the world are in Chile. The nitrate country is almost a desert. Water is rare, and in many cases is piped from the Andes, a hundred or more miles distant. Each refinery is a little mining village. There are more than 150 such "plants," most of which are owned by Englishmen.
On the eastern border of Chile are the Andes Mountains. Many miles west of these is a coastal range. Between the two is a valley. In the northern part of this valley are great nitrate an salt beds. These beds are found for 150 miles from north ot south. The raw nitrate genereally lies very near the surface. Usually it is covered by only a few inchs of sand and rock ; but sometimes it is several feet below the surface. The layers of sand and rock are blasted loose. Then the "nitrate rock" is broken loose with crowbards and loaded in large chunks on carts or tramcars.
At the refineries it is boiled in a series of large containers. (Much of our iodine is a by-product of nitrate refining.) The nitrate collects on top of the water. The surface coating becomes thicker in each successive tank. Finally it is drawn off, dried, and sacked. Then it is loaded on freight cars and taken to a Pacific seaport and shipped to Europe or America. Iquique (pronuncation) is the chief nitrate port.
Copyright by The Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection