Darwin wrote of the place in 1835: *' Every one seems bent on the object of making money, and then migrating as quickly as possible. All the inhabitants are more or less directly con- cerned with mines; and mines and ores are the sole subjects of conversation, Necessaries of all sorts are extremely dear; as the distance from the town to the port is eighteen leagues, and the land carriage very expensive.”[1]
In the department of Copiapó, according to the census of 1875, there were 5058 foreigners, or one to every five nationals. Half the population dwelt in the ‘‘valley.”[2] Philippi in his journey through the Atacama Desert learned that in 1853 there was not a single cura (priest) in the entire province of Atacama. He found that in Chanarcillo, with a population of about 5000 souls, 3763 had been punished by fine or cor- poral chastisement during a period of 39 months.[3]
The Great Silver Discoveries
The great silver discoveries commenced in 1811 with that of Agua Amarga immediately south of Vallenar.[4] A great spurt was given to the agricultural industry of the valley; new canals were cut, more land was put under cultivation, and the popula- tion of Vallenar town itself quadrupled in a short time. When Gilliss visited Vallenar in the fifties he found the town of 3500 inhabitants on the decline, for the mines upon which they had been so largely dependent for support were exhausted. The Agua Amarga discovery was followed in 1825 by that of Arqueros on the road from Huasco to Coquimbo. So im- portant did these mines prove that two years after their
- ↑ Charles Darwin: Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the World, 2nd edit., London, 1360, pp. 354-355.
- ↑ On the demography see an interesting series of papers by Dr. Ricardo Davila Boza: Geografia Médica: Revista Médica de Copiapé, Bol. de Medicina, Santiago, Vol, 3, 1886-1857, pp. 370-384; 424-430; 470-480; and 505-512.
- ↑ R.A. Philippi: Viaje al Desierto de Atacama hecho de orden del gobierno cde Chile en el verano 1853-1854, Halle, 1860, p. 101
- ↑ The first silver mines of the desert worked on a large scale—because of proximity to the coast-—were those of Huantajaya and Santa Rosa, seven miles from Iquique. These mines were discovered in the sixteenth century but abandoned soon after, to be rediscovered and extensively worked in the early eighteenth century.
