The "Fourth Partner" of the Triumvirate. The Role of L. Carlos Gallegher in the Transition Period of the Saltpeter Industry (1875-1896)

Abstract

Structural factors explain the development of the nitrate industry and society. However, specific actors occupied strategic positions and used them to consolidate personal and collective interests with consequences for the Chilean society. The Peruvian and Chilean states were involved with large business companies, as well as entrepreneurs, officials, and workers, who played key roles in the success of the nitrate industry. The case of the business partnership formed by John Thomas North, Robert Harvey, and John Dawson, which came to be known as a “triumvirate”, is well-known. This ar ticle analyzes the case of L.C. Gallagher, a lesser-known figure who played a strategic role during the transition of the Tarapacá province from Peruvian to Chilean administration (1876–1893), whom we have symbolically called the “fourth partner” in that partnership led by the “Nitrate King”.