Ghost City in Chilean Desert Serves Up Slice of History  A ghost
town boasting a window onto history rises up out of the
punishing, arid desert of northern Chile.  Oddly, this desolate
outpost in the Atacama desert born of a frenzy for saltpeter --
a mineral once used to manufacturer gunpowder and fertilizer --
is one of this country's top tourist attractions.  The little
company town dating back to the late 19th and early 20th
centuries is called Humberstone, and the remaining snapshot it
offers is vivid. The settlement was once home to 3,700 hearty
souls doing very hard work, and to their families.  Here, the
workers' humble quarters with corrugated metal roofs and dirt
floors -- some for men with wives and kids, others for bachelors
(the latter's were off limits to the former) -- or a church, and
a school.  There, an old wooden movie theater in which Westerns,
perfect for this kind of parched terrain, were all the rage.
Miners' kids got caught up in the fever: with wire they
fashioned what were for them s