Although the conditions were not favorable for a thorough test, his long experience enabled him to form a judgment regarding the optical performance of the instrument, with which he expressed himself as very much pleased. Taken together with the tests of the objective made by Professor Keeler and the writer in 1895, these favorable indications lead us to expect that the last great work of Alvan G. Clark will do honor to his memory. His traveling companions include President Harper, Trustees Charles L. Hutchinson, Martin A. Ryerson, A. K. Parker, Ferdinand W. Peck, Henry A. Rust, A. C. Bartlett, Cyrus H. McCormick, F. A. Smith, Jesse Baldwin, Walker, and Secretary Thomas W. Goodspeed. Faculty members of the Observatory, Mr. and Mrs. John Johnston Jr., William C. Dean, Editor and Publisher of The Observer, and a few other friends of the University, meet Walker's steamer. A short walk up from the lake brings them to their destination, where they each examine the completed telescope and see its magnificence for themselves.
Harper takes the first look through the telescope which is focused on Jupiter.
Yerkes is informed of the success of his investment and expresses his pleasure. It should never be lowered so that visitors could look at it, or be on the same plane with it. Harper sends the letter to Hale who reads it on May 28. He is disappointed because he had hoped to open the dome to the public one night a week, just as James Lick had provided when he bequeathed the 36-inch telescope to the University of California. Although discouraged by this directive, Hale plans an evening of observation for himself on the 40-inch.