I rented a car and drove to Humberstone, a town where nitrate was extracted from the desert, and processed to become saltpetre. A by-product of the process was iodine that was also sold.

During the Pacific war started in 1879, Chile took possession of the nitrate rich land of the Atacama, and began to exploit it. This proved to be useful as in the early 20th century, about 80% of Chile’s income came from nitrate that was sold all over the world as fertilizer. From 1905 to 1913, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch developed the ammonia synthesis which resulted in a cheap substitute for the nitrate. The market prices for saltpetre plummeted in the 1930’s, and many nitrate works closed.

James Thomas Humberstone, a chemical engineer who emigrated from England, founded Humberstone as Oficina La Palma in 1872, when this part of the desert still belonged to Peru. As a result of the Pacific war, the Oficina La Palma became Chilean in 1883. It grew quickly, and became one of the biggest nitrate works in the region. In 1934, when Humberstone as well as Santa Lauta went almost bankrupt as a result of the ammonia synthesis, both works were acquired by COSATAN (Compañía Salitrera de Tarapacá y Antofagasta), and modernized. In 1940, Humberstone reached its peak with 3700 people living and working there. In 1961, Humberstone finally shut down, and its inhabitants had to relocate in search of new jobs. Humberstone became a ghost town with roofs rattling in the hot desert wind and squealing doors. UNESCO discovered it and it was declared world heritage in 2005. It is in the process of being revamped for tourism. The church for instance was one of the first building to be refurbished.

Even though it offered some amenities, such as a swimming pool, it was a remote place and work was hard. Despite that, the staff workers and their families typically stayed for 10-15 years before they moved on. Today, there is a reunion of its former inhabitants once every couple of years.

The city is divided into 2 main sections: In the north, the industrial sector is dominated by a chimney of about 40 meters. The ovens feeding the chimney used to produce steam for the leaching process and probably for the electrical power plant as well. Waste management was simple — the slag was dumped onto a big hill that still smells after 55 years.

In the southern part, there are the dwellings, the church, the theatre, the market, the hotel, the school, the swimming pool, and the administration, a guest house, and the telephone switch board building.