Chilean silver rush

Between 1830 and 1850 Chilean silver mining grew at an unprecedented space which transformed mining into one of the country's principal sources of wealth. The rush caused rapid demographic, infrastructural, and economic expansion in the semi-arid Norte Chico mountains where the silver deposits lay. A number of Chileans made large fortunes in the rush and made investments in other areas of the economy of Chile. By the 1850s the rush was in decline and lucrative silver mining definitely ended in the 1870s. At the same time mining activity in Chile reoriented to saltpetre operations.

Placer deposits of gold were exploited by the Spanish in the 16th century following their arrival in the same century. However, only after the independence in the 19th century did mining once again get prominence among economic activities in Chile. Following the discovery of silver at Agua Amarga (1811) and Arqueros (1825) the Norte Chico mountains north of La Serena were exhaustively prospected.

In 1832 prospector Juan Godoy found a silver outcrop (reventón) 50 km south of Copiapó in Chañarcillo. Godoy successfully claimed the discovered outcrop in his name and the name of José Godoy and Miguel Gallo. The finding attracted thousands of people to the place and generated significant wealth. During the heyday of Chañarcillo it produced more than 332 tons of silver ore until the deposits begun to be exhausted in 1874. A settlement of 600 people mushroomed in Chañarcillo leading to the establishment of surveillance system to avoid disorders and theft of ore. The settlement evolved over time to a town named Juan Godoy which came to have a plaza, school, market, hospital, theater, a railroad station, a church and graveyard.

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