Monument Erected in Honor of Atacama's Illustrious Dead, Copiapó
The streets of Vallenar are narrow, and although lighted with electricity, they are dark. The city is ancient in appearance and as one passes by the gloomy structures in the misty night, a feeling is present that one of the doors leading into the adobe hovels might open and that the pedestrian will be yanked by unknown hands inside, where he will be robbed and murdered by disembowelment which is the favorite trick among Chileno thugs. Vallenar has not the street life of Illapel, yet I must say in its favor that never elsewhere in a town of its size have I seen so much beauty among women.
Main Street of Copiapó
The building at the left is the city hall. It is also used for moving-picture shows
At Copiapó I stayed four days. It is the capital of the Province of Atacama and has a population of 10,287 inhabitants although it looks considerably larger. Fifty years ago it had fourteen thousand inhabitants. At that time it was a mining center, and much of the wealth among the leading families of Santiago to-day has its origin from mines formerly located here. The railroad to the fifty-two miles distant seaport of Caldera was opened to traffic in 1850 and is one of the oldest in South America. The original locomotive used is now to be seen in the National Museum at Santiago.
The city is situated in an oasis in the desert; this oasis is twenty-five miles long by two miles broad and is cultivated to an amazing degree. It is traversed by the turbulent muddy and narrow Copiapó River which furnishes irrigation to the many quintas. Peaches, figs, grapes, and apricots grow in profusion as do also loquats and other local fruits whose names are unfamiliar to me. A specie of willow is indigenous to the valley which in form is not unlike a Lombardy poplar and from a distance is often mistaken for one of them.
The environs of the city have a decidedly oriental appearance due to the high mud garden walls which shut off from the passer-by the rich verdure of the enclosed terrain, making the only objects visible to him the dusty windowless backs of sheds with an occasional tree rising above an adobe wall.