ll nitrate mines were: Negreiros, with 4837 inhab. (Located 75 km. Pisagua), Santa Catalina, with 4649 inhab. (36 miles), Dolores, with 3293 inhab. (31 miles). In the foothills, was walking, a town with straight streets, and 493 inhabitants. 1895. 26 Except Camina, the remaining human settlements are ghost towns today (Zapiga, Dolores, Santa Catalina and Negreiros).
Enrique Espinoza, in his "Jeograf�a" 27 also mentions that the Department had important solfataras (limestone), guano deposits of guano, iodine and borax deposits, etc.
On the occasion of the so-called Revolution of 1891 , the port became an unusual importance in national political life. Fearing it was attacked by the troops of the Army, Iquique Gubierno Board instructed the bracket install a series of batteries coast, protecting the port, which can be seen to this day. Note that the anti-Balmacedist Board was chaired by Admiral Jorge Montt �lvarez, who in 1879, had led the assault and capture of the Peruvian port of Pisagua then.
The decline of Pisagua
Punta Pichalo and to the left, on the waterfront, the current village of Pisagua.
After the end of the nitrate economy at the end of World War I , Pisagua maintained its importance due to overfishing, however, in the latefifties , the urban area declined and, as a result of the abandonment of its population, lost its standing as the third largest city in the area, and rail service descontinu�ndose dismantling itself much of its territory to form new communities within the Department.
Thus, on September 8, 1970, it created the commune of Camina (Law No. 17,325).
In 1979, the military regime suppresses definitely Pisagua commune, becoming part of the commune of Huara .
View of the old station FF.CC. and ruins of the camp installed in 1973 by the military regime .
Note that during the twentieth century, because of its isolation and small population, Pisagua became a detention center
