Lick Observatory

Lick Observatory is built on the lowest (4227 feet) of the three summits of Mount Hamilton, 26 miles by a fine mountain-road E. of San Jose, California. For its erection and equipment $700,000 were left by James Lick (1796-1876), an American millionaire, whose remains are interred in a vault within the foundations of the pier that supports the great telescope. This instrument has an object-glass of 36 inches in aperture, the founder requiring it to be 'superior to and more powerful than any telescope ever yet made;' and it is provided with a photographic attachment which enables it to be used as a gigantic camera in the photography of stars. When completed the observatory was made over to the University of California. See Professor Holden's Handbook of the Lick Observatory (San Francisco, 1888).