CHILE 
73 
ing and boilings from foreign matter, then 
bagged and shipped. A more desolate spot 
than a nitrate “officina,” as these reduction 
plants are called, would be hard to imagine. 
No trees or vegetation are to be seen and even 
water has to be carried for miles in cars for 
operating the machinery and for other uses. 
Authorities differ as to the extent of the de 
posits, some alleging they will be worked out 
in 20 years, while others claim there is suffi 
cient supply available for 200 years. Nitrate 
is used extensively in the arts, for manufactur 
ing gunpowder and explosives and for a fer 
tilizer in agriculture. 
Copper is found in great profusion, $7,947,- 
307 worth being exported last year. One of 
the largest copper mines is owned by the 
Braden Copper Company, an American con 
cern. In 1913 its average daily production 
was 30 tons of bar copper. Machinery is be 
ing installed which is intended to double this 
output. Chile at one time contributed one- 
third of the world’s supply of this metal and 
mineralogists state that there are yet great bod