The prevailing soils are sand and gravel loams, but other varieties are numerous, ranging from rich alluvial beds of extinct lakes, as in parts of Lyon and Esmeralda counties, to the strongly alkaline plains of the southern deserts.
In 1904, however, both trade and revenue showed signs of improvement, and the sale of the warships " Esmeralda " and " Chambuco " for 1,000,000 furnished a surplus, which was devoted to the improvement of the port of Valparaiso.
A sub-bituminous lignite is mined in Esmeralda county (800 tons in 1906; 330 tons in 1907).
The cause of the troubles under President Cordero was the assistance lent by Ecuador to Chile in the matter of the sale of the cruiser Esmeralda to the Japanese government in 1894, in the middle of the Japanese-Chinese War.
La Esmeralda, the libretto of an opera founded on his great tragic romance of Notre-Dame de Paris, is a miracle of lyric melody and of skilful adaptation.