The “cateador” and saltpeter. The Lagunas canton: from its discovery to its industrialization (1850-1890)

Abstract

In this article the process that made up a nitrate canton called “Lagunas” is analyzed from the discovery of “mantos de caliche” or “criaderos caliche” in the most austral pampas of the Tarapaca province. That territory, that will be known as “Lagunas”, was prospected in the middle of the nineteenth century, being made up a canton in the decade of 1870, reaching its industrial peak in the decade of 1890 with the saltpeter offices South, Central, and North Lagunas, plus the town and railway station “Lagunas”. The key role of the “cateador” or “discoverer” is highlighted -in that period before introducing a saltpeter office- through the biography of Asencio Almonte de la Fuente, discoverer of “Lagunas”. It is described how the first explorations were made, requests of stakes, and the creation of societies to exploit sodium nitrate.