History of Santa Clara County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 36

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846-
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1928

USA > California > Santa Clara County > History of Santa Clara County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 36

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

and probably well founded, which illustrates the odd means he employed to secure hired help at once trustworthy and obedient. One day while he was planting his orchard a man applied to him for work. Lick directed him to take the trees he indicated to a certain part of the grounds and there to plant them with the tops in the soil and the roots in the air. The man obeyed the directions to the letter and reported in the evening for further orders. Lick went out, viewed the work with apparent satisfaction, and then ordered the man to plant the trees the proper way, and thereafter to continue in his employ.

Another story, similar to this, is handed down and is entirely authentic. Lick at one time was the owner of what is now the Knox block, on the northwest corner of First and Santa Clara streets. A fire having destroyed the buildings, much debris of burnt and broken brick was scattered about the lot. One day while Lick was viewing the ruins a young man applied to him for work and was in- structed to collect a certain quantity of bricks and pile them neatly in a corner. This he did, and on reporting was told to take the same bricks back and pile them neatly in another corner. Without protest the young man exe- cuted this singular order, and was at once reg- ularly employed.

When Lick found that the floods interfered with the improvement of his mill property, he transferred his operations to the tract of land south of San Jose, for a long time known as the Lick Homestead Addition. Presently the residents of San Jose witnessed a strange spec- tacle. Day after day long trains of carts and wagons passed slowly through the city, carry- ing tall trees and full-grown shrubbery from the old to the new location. Winter and sum- mer alike the work went on, the old man su- perintending it all in his old rattle-trap wagon and bearskin robe. He imported from Aus- tralia some rare trees and had brought with them whole shiploads of their native earth. Once he conceived the idea of building con- servatories superior to any on the Coast, and for that purpose he had imported from England the materials for two large conservatories after the model of those in Kew Gardens, London. His death occurred before lie could have these constructed and they remained on the hands of his trustees until a body of San Francisco gentlemen contributed funds for their purchase and donation to the use of the public in Golden Gate Park, where in full construction they now stand, to the wonder and delight of all who visit this beautiful resort.

It was in the year 1873, when James Lick was seventy-seven years old, that he began to make those donations of the then vast estate

which he possessed. For many years preced- ing the bequest he had been a wide reader. He studied everything written by and of Thomas Paine and made his own works conform to Paine's opinions. It is related that while he was engaged in the improvement of the Lick Homestead property he became involved in an argument with the late Adolph Pfister, who served several terms as mayor of the city, over some religious subject, when Pfister suggested that Lick put to practical proof the merits of Paineism as contrasted with other moral agen- cies, by the erection of a grand college on his property for the education of young men in the Paine doctrine. Lick was impressed with the idea and it is not improbable that it found form in the gift of the mill property to the Paine Association of Boston.

On February 15, 1873, Lick executed two gift deeds, one to the California Academy of Science, the other to the Society of California Pioneers. To the first named he granted a lot of forty feet frontage on Market Street, near Fourth, San Francisco, and to the last named a lot of like dimensions on Fourth Street near Market. These gifts he clogged with certain conditions which were deemed irksome by the trustees. The matter was at issue when Lick died, but after his death a compromise satisfactory to the donees was effected.

The trust deed by which Lick gave all his remaining property to charitable and educa- tional objects was dated June 2, 1874. Among the provisions of this instrument was one giv- ing to San Jose $25,000 for the purpose of es- tablishing an orphan asylum, and another ap- propriating $700,000 for establishing an ob- servatory on land belonging to Lick, near Lake Tahoe. An investigation of the appropriate- ness of the site was at once set on foot. It was soon ascertained that the severity of the climate in winter about the chosen location would seriously interfere with the effective op- erations of the telescopes and with the com- fort of the visiting public. Lick then deter- mined to make a change of site and looked favorably toward Mt. St. Helena, in Napa County. He visited St. Helena and ascended part way to its summit, but before he had pur- sued his investigations far enough to reach a conclusion his mind was directed to Santa Clara County.

Although out of the large amount of prop- erty distributed by Lick, San Jose received but $25,000, the people of the city were very grate- ful and acknowledged their gratitude in a well- worded series of resolutions prepared by Judge Belden and adopted by the mayor and common council. The resolutions were beautifully en- graved and officially transmitted to Mr. Lick

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in San Francisco. Other recipients of the mil- lionaire's benefactions had either responded coldly or had made no response at all. There- fore the action of San Jose greatly pleased Lick and caused him to think that he had not done as much as he should for the county that had long been his home. The resolutions reached him at a time when he was in doubt as to the location of the observatory, and he consulted his confidential agent, Thomas E. Fraser, as to the availability of the mountain summits east and west of San Jose. Fraser referred Lick to Mt. Hamilton and was in- structed to ascend the mountain's top and make thorough investigations. In !August, 1875, Fraser, accompanied by Mayor B. D. Murphy, went to the summit, found it free from fog, equable of climate and generally suitable for the observatory's location. Mr. Lick then addressed a communication to the board of supervisors offering to locate the ob- servatory on Mt. Hamilton if the county would construct a road to the summit. The facts con- cerning the building of the road will be found in the chapter on County Government and Good Roads.

In the meantime, Lick had found that his deed of trust did not express his intentions ; that a strict construction of its terms would postpone the carrying into effect of his bene- factions until after his death. He wanted the work to be pushed forward during his life- time. After duly considering these matters, he addressed a communication to his trustees, set- ting forth his conclusions and intentions, re- voking the deed and asking them to resign. The trustees consulted a lawyer and upon his advice declined to resign, for the alleged rea- son that they had already converted about a million dollars of the real estate into money and could not be relieved from responsibility by the dictum of Mr. Lick. This brought about a controversy with the trustees which at first threatened disaster to the beneficiaries. John B. Felton was Lick's attorney, and in- stead of precipitating his client into a lawsuit he used the columns of the newspapers so vig- orously that the trustees became disgusted and made up an agreed case by which the courts relieved them of responsibility and annulled the deed.

On September 21, 1875, a new and final deed was executed, with Richard S. Floyd, Bernard D. Murphy, Foxan D. Atherton, John H. Lick and John Nightingale as trustees. The clause in the deed in reference to the observatory is as follows :

"Third-To expend the sum of seven hun- dred thousand dollars ($700,000) for the pur- pose of purchasing land and constructing and putting upon such land as shall be designated

by the party of the first part, a powerful tele- scope, superior to and more powerful than any telescope yet made, with all the machinery ap- pertaining thereto and appropriately connected therewith, or that is necessary and convenient to the most powerful telescope now in use, or suited to one more powerful than any yet con- structed ; and also a suitable observatory con- nected therewith. The parties of the second part hereto, and their successors shall, as soon as said telescope and observatory are con- structed, convey the land whereupon the same may be situated, and the telescope and ob- servatory and all the machinery and apparatus connected therewith to the corporation known as 'The Regents of the University of Cali- fornia"; and if, after the construction of said telescope and observatory, there shall remain of said seven hundred thousand dollars in gold coin any surplus, the said parties of the sec- ond part shall turn over such surplus to said corporation, to be invested by it in bonds of the United States, or of the city and county of San Francisco, or other good and safe in- terest-bearing bonds, and the income thereof shall be devoted to the maintenance of said telescope and the observatory connected therewith, and shall be made useful in promot- ing science; and the said telescope and ob- servatory are to be known as The Lick Astro- nomical Department of the University of Cal- ifornia.'

In making the new deed Lick selected Mt. Hamilton as the site for the observatory, and the trustees, acting with the Regents of the State University, secured an Act of Congress setting apart the public land at the summit for this purpose. This tract contains 500 acres and is so situated as to prevent settlement in the immediate vicinity of the observatory, or the inauguration of any enterprise in that neighborhood that would be inimical to the in- terests of the institution.

John B. Felton charged $100,000 for his legal services in annulling the first deed, and pre- sented the bill to the new trustees. They re- fused to allow the claim until Lick would sign a written authorization. Felton and Trustee Murphy called on Lick and asked him to sign. "Mr. Felton," said the old philanthropist, "when we made a contract on which that claim is based, we supposed that to cancel my first trust deed would be an arduous matter, in- volving much expense, a long delay and years of the most elaborate and expensive litigation. 'The whole entanglement, however, was ad- justed in a few months without any difficulty, with little outlay and with only a formal liti- gation. I think, under the changed circum- stances, you ought to diminish the amount of your fee."

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"Your proposition, Mr. Lick," replied Felton, "reminds me of a story I once heard about a countryman who had a bad toothache and went to a. rustic dentist to have the offender extracted. The dentist produced a rusty set of instruments, seated the patient in a rickety chair and went at work. After some hours of hard labor for himself, and the most extreme agony to the countryman, the tooth was ex- tracted and the dentist charged a dollar for his work. A few months later the countryman had another attack of toothache and this time thought best to procure a metropolitan dentist. He went to the city, found the best dentist in it and offered his swollen jaw for operation. The expert dentist passed his hand soothingly over the man's face, located the tooth with painless delicacy, produced a splendid set of instruments, and before the countryman knew it, had the tooth out. His charge was five dol- lars. 'Five dollars!' exclaimed the country- man. 'When Jones, down at the village, pulled my last tooth it took three hours, during which time he broke his chair, broke my jaw, broke his tools and mopped the whole floor with me several times, and he charged me only a dollar. You ought to diminish your bill.'" Lick saw the point, signed the authorization and Felton got his money.

In 1876 Lick had trouble with his trustees. One of the duties Lick wished first performed was the erection of his family monument in Fredericksburg, Pa. During the arrangement for this work the causes for the retirement of the second board of trustees arose. One of the members of the board was John H. Lick. Al- though James Lick had never been married, John H. was his son. He was born in Penn- sylvania in 1818, about the time James Lick made a hurried departure to New York, thence to South America. Some years after Lick came to California he sent for his son, then grown to manhood, and kept him for several years at work in the mahogany mill. Here John H. remained until August, 1871, when he returned to his Pennsylvania home. When James Lick made his first deed of trust he di- rected the payment to his son of $3,000. With this pittance John H. was naturally dissatisfied, and therefore in the second deed he was given the sum of $150,000 and made one of the trus- tees. To him, as trustee, was delegated the power to contract for the Fredericksburg mon- ument, but for some reason he failed or refused to sign the contract. When this fact was made known to James Lick he became very much incensed against his son, and in the weakness of old age he included the whole board in his ill-humor and suddenly demanded the resigna- tion of the whole body. The trustees were acquiescent and a new board was appointed.

Captain Floyd, having been in Europe during this last trouble, was not included in the old man's wrath, and therefore was made a mem- ber of the new board.

James Lick died October 1. 1876, before the new board had fully organized. He was eighty years of age. His body lay in state in Pioneer Hall, San Francisco, and was followed by an immense concourse to Lone Mountain Ceme- tery, there to rest until a more fitting burial place might be ready for its reception. Some months before his death, in a conversation with the late B. D. Murphy of San Jose, Lick ex- pressed the desire to be buried on Mt. Hamil- ton, either within or at one side of the pro- posed observatory, after the manner of Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral, who was buried in the crypt in 1723.

Immediately after the death of his father, John H. Lick returned from the East and se- cured letters of administration upon the estate. This was understood to be the beginning of an attempt to annul the trust deed. After testing several points in the courts, the trus- tees finally effected a compromise by which they were to pay John H. Lick $535,000 in full of all claims against the estate. The Society of Pioneers and the Academy of Science had been made residuary legatees by the deed and their trustees insisted that this payment to John H. Lick should be made pro rata from each of the bequests. After nearly a year of lit- igation the courts decided that the special be- quests could not be disturbed and that the com- promise money must come from the shares of the residuary legatees.

As soon as possible after the completion of the road to the summit, work on the buildings was commenced. Early in 1887 the work had progressed sufficiently to permit the request of James Lick in regard to a burial place to be complied with, and on the ninth of January the body was brought to San Jose, whence, followed by a procession of officials and citi- zens, it was conveyed to the mountain. A tomb had been prepared in the foundation of the pier which was to support the great tele- scope, and in this, with imposing ceremonies, the coffin was deposited. The following docu- ment, signed by the trustees and representa- tives of the State University, Academy of Sci- ence, and Pioneers, and the Mayor of San Jose, was sealed up with the casket :

"This is the body of James Lick, who was born in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania, August 25, 1796, and who died in San Francisco, Cali- fornia, October 1, 1876.

"It has been identified by us, and in our presence has been sealed up and deposited in this foundation pier of the great equatorial telescope, this ninth of January, 1887.

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"In the year 1875 he executed a deed of trust of his entire estate, by which he provided for the comfort and culture of the citizens of Cali- fornia ; for the advancement of handcraft and redecraft among the youth of San Francisco and of the state ; for the development of scien- tific research and the diffusion of knowledge among men, and for founding in the State of California an astronomical observatory, to sur- pass all others existing in the world at this epoch.

"This observatory has been erected by the trustees of his estate and has been named The Lick Astronomical Department of the Univer- sity of California in memory of the founder. The refracting telescope is the largest which has ever been constructed, and the astronomers who have tested it declare that. its perform- ance surpasses that of all other telescopes.

"The two disks of glass for the objective were cast by M. Feil, of France, and were brought to a true figure by Alvan Clark & Sons, of Massachusetts. Their diameter is thirty-six inches and their focal length is fifty- six feet, two inches. Upon the completion of this structure the Regents of the University of California became the trustees of this Astro- nomical Observatory."

The members of the third board of trustees were Richard S. Floyd, president: William Sherman, vice-president; E. B. Mastick, treas- urer ; Charles M. Plum, George Schoenwald.

The contract for the great lens was made with Alvan Clark & Sons, of Cambridge, Mass. In 1882 the flint glass was east by M. Feil & Sons, of Paris, but it was not until 1885 that a perfect crown glass could be obtained. The Clarks succeeded in obtaining a true figure in 1886, and on the 27th of December of that year the great glass reached Mt. Hamilton. The mounting of the instrument and other details of construction occupied eighteen months more time, and in June, 1888, the whole work was completed. The transfer of the observatory from the trustees to the regents of the univer- sity took place on June 1, 1888, being fourteen years from the date of James Lick's first deed. The total expense of construction was $610,000. A balance of $90,000 remained as the nucleus of an endowment fund. Profs. Simon New- comb and Edward S. Holden were the scientific advisers of the three boards. In 1885 Professor Holden was appointed president of the Univer- sity of California and director of the Lick Ob- servatory on the understanding that he would fill the former office until the completion of the observatory and thereafter the latter office.

The observatory consists of a main building containing offices, computing rooms, library (of 8,000 books and 5,000 pamphlets), and the domes of the thirty-six-inch equatorial and the

twelve-inch equatorial telescopes; of detached buildings to shelter the Crossley reflector, the meridian circle, and other instruments, and to provide safe deposit rooms and photographic dark rooms; of instrument shops; of dwelling houses; and of other buildings, reservoirs, pumping stations, etc.

The principal equipment provided by the Lick trustees consisted of: A 36-inch equa- torial refractor, objective by Alvan Clark & Sons, mounting by Warner & Swasey. This instrument has also a photographic correcting lens of thirty-three inches aperture, figured by Alvan G. Clark. By placing the latter lens in front of the 36-inch objective, the telescope be- comes a photographic instrument. A 12-inch equatorial refractor, objective and mounting by Alvan Clark & Sons. A 672-inch meridian cir- cle instrument, objective by Alvan Clark & Sons, mounting by Repsold. Many smaller telescopes and other pieces of auxiliary appa- ratus.

Other important instruments were presented to the Lick Observatory in later years, as fol- lows: A 3614-inch reflecting telescope, pre- sented to the Lick Observatory in 1895 by Ed- ward Crossley, Esq., of Halifax, England. The mirror was constructed by Sir Howard Grubb, and the mounting by Dr. A. A. Common. The cost of a building to receive this instrument and the expense of transporting the instrument and iron dome from England were met by sub- scriptions from prominent citizens of Califor- nia. A 61/2-inch comet-seeker, objective by John A. Brashear, the gift of Miss Catharine Bruce. A 6-inch photographic telescope, with objective by Willard and mounting by John A. Brashear, all the gift of Regent Charles F. Crocker. A 5-inch telescope, with interchange- able photographic and visual objective, by Al- van Clark & Sons, the gift of Miss Floyd, daughter of Captain Floyd. The Mills three- prism spectrograph, the gift of D. O. Mills. Delicate seismographs, the gift of William Randolph Hearst.

In order that the program of determining the radial velocities of the brighter stars might be extended over the entire sky, D. O. Mills provided funds in the year 1900 for a well- equipped expedition to the southern hemi- sphere. The equipment included a 3714-inch Cassegrain reflecting telescope, with modern dome ; a three-prism spectrograph ; a two-prism spectrograph ; a one-prism spectrograph ; an instrument shop, and other accessories. The D. O. Mills Observatory, administered by the Director of the Lick Observatory, is located on the summit of Cerro San Cristobal, at an altitude of about 2900 feet above sea-level, in the northeasterly suburbs of Santiago, Chile. This important observatory was supported by

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

Mills until his death in 1910, and the support has been continued by his son, Ogden Mills.

Many auxiliary instruments, such as spectro- graphs, seismographs, clocks, chronographs, photometers, etc., have been purchased from time to time.

The magnifying power of the great telescope may be changed from about 270 to 3,000 by changing the eye-pieces, in very much the same way that the magnifying power of a microscope may be changed. The power employed de- pends upon the object under observation and upon the state of the atmosphere.

The height of the marble floor of the main building above mean sea-level is 4209 feet. On a closely connected peak half a mile to the east of the observatory, and fifty feet higher, are the reservoirs from which water for household and photographic purposes is distributed. Springs on the north and south slopes of the mountain, about a mile east of the Observatory and about 350 feet and 630 feet, respectively, below it, supply excellent water. Another peak seven-eighths of a mile to the east is the sum- mit of Mount Hamilton: it is 180 feet higher than the Observatory, and supports the reser- voirs supplying power for raising the movable floor in the dome of the great telescope. This system receives its supply from the winter rains falling on the roofs, the water being pumped to the reservoirs on the higher peak. The mov- able floor in the dome was the first of the kind to be constructed. It is 60 feet in diameter. and can be raised or lowered through a dis- tance of 1612 feet, its purpose being to bring the observer within convenient reach of the eye end of the telescope.

The Observatory is open to daytime visitors every day of the year, but visitors are expect- ed to leave the premises at or before sunset. The Observatory is open every Saturday even- ing to visitors who arrive before 9 p. m., op- portunity being afforded on clear nights to look through the 36-inch refractor and the 12- inch refractor usually.

Visitors who come in the daytime are usual- ly conducted through the building and have the uses of the instruments explained to them. On Saturday evenings the scientific staff is on publie duty. The annual number of visit- ors to the Observatory exceeds five thousand. While the Observatory has no financial inter- est in the coming of visitors, yet no pains are spared to make the time spent here interest- ing and profitable to them. There are no ho- tel accommodations at the summit.

The average population of Mount Hamil- ton during the past five years has been fifty. There is a public school on the mountain ; the schoolhouse is the property of the Observa-

tory; the teacher is supplied by Santa Clara County.

The directors of the Lick Observatory have been : Edward Singleton Holden, June 1, 1888, to December 31, 1897: James Edward Keeler, June 1, 1898 to . August 12, 1900; William Wal- lace Campbell, January 1, 1901 to -. Other astronomers on the staff have been: S. W. Burnham, 1888-1892; J. M. Schaeberle, 1888- 1898; J. E. Keeler, 1888-1891 ; E. E. Barnard, 1888-1895: W. W. Campbell, 1891 -; Henry Crew, 1891-1892: R. H. Tucker, 1893 -; C. D. Perrine, 1893-1909; R. G. Aitken, 1895 -: W. J. Hussey. 1896-1905: W. H. Wright. 1897 -; H. D. Curtis, 1902- The list of assistant astron- omers includes the names of A. L. Colton, J. H. Moore, Sebastian Albrecht, R. E. Wilson, R. F. Sanford.

Members of the staff have been detailed to take charge of the D. O. Mills Observatory in Chile, as follows: W. II. Wright. 1903-1906 ; H. D. Curtis, 1906-1909; J. H. Moore, 1909- 1913; R. E. Wilson, 1913 -.

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History of Santa Clara County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 36

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846- Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1928

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846-
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1928