The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1875-02-05
James Lick s Estate.

e The most remarkable auction sale OF
! which history gives us an account was held
/ recently in San Francisco A portion of
r the immense estate of James Lick, given to
trustees for public uses, was sold for two
millions of dollars. The residue was with
drawn for disposal at future day. The
time would appear hardly favorable for the
sale of real estate, and yet sufficient sum
has been realized to accomplish all the spe-
ciic purposes contained in the extraordinary
deed by which this public spirited citizen re-
duced himself, few months ago, from vast
opulencc to position of simple ease.
James Lick is a native of Fredericksburg,
Pennsylvania, who learned the trade OF pi-
ano making in the early years of this centu-
i ry. Having a taste for adventure, which
was with him not incompatible with great
industry and thrift, he went to South Amer
ica, where he passed several years engaged
in any business which offered, sometimes
making pianos sometimes dealing in furs, but
always getting ahead. When the Mexican
war threw California into our hands, and
the rumored discoveries of gold excited such
interest among Americans on the Pacific
Coast, Mr. Lick resolved to seek his fortune
in FL Dorado. His business in Peru was re-
lentlessly sacrificed, and he started for San
Francisco Bay with $4,000 in cash, the
avails of property worth twice that sum.
There were very few of the early emigrants
who had any such sum of money, and still
fewer who had such head-pece as were car
ried on the square shoulders of the Penn
sylvania piano maker. He bought a lot and
a large adobe house on the northeast cor
ner of Montgomery and Jackson streets, to
keep his safe full of doubloons in, and then
began to look about him. He saw that
great town was sure to grow up on those
sand hills, and he lost no time in selecting
and buying the most eligible positions in
the future city. This was in 1913, when
there was only struggling village there,
and the prices which Mr.. Lick paid were
usually above the market of the times. He
wanted only choice lots and secure titles.
He kept his own counsel, and for years at-
terwards, when the vigorous young city was
spreading out on every hand, there were
many vacant lots and blocks occupying the
best situation whose ownership was mys-
terry to every one except the quiet specula-
tor.
He is now IS years old, and does not
choose to wait until his death shall throw
his property into hands of bungling corpo-
rations and grasping heirs. He therefore
made a deed in July last giving his whole
estate to seven trustees, Thomas II. Selsby,
d. o. Mills, Henry M. Newhall, William
Alvord, George II. Howard, James Otis, and
John o. Earl, for uses and purposes of re-
markable character. Seven hundred thous-
and dollars are to be devoted to the construc-
ton on the borders of Lake Tahoe, or else
where in the State OF California, of pow
erful telescope, superior to and more power
ful than any telescope ever etmade." This
is to be constructed rs rapidly as circum-
stances shall permit. Three hundred thous-
aBd are to be used to found and endow an
institution to be called "The California
School of Mechanical Arts, the object and
purpose of which shall be to educate the
males and females in the practical arts of
life,' to be open to all youths born in Cali
fonia. Two hundred and fifty Thousand
dollars are to be spent in building a monu-
ment designed to commemorate the history
Of California, and one hundred and fifty
thousand are to be devoted to a bronze mon
ument to Francis Scott Key, author Of the
'Star Spangled Banner" probably theargest
proportion of monumental glory to the
amount of copy which provoked it of which
we have any record. One hundred and fifty
thousand dollars are TO be spent in building
free baths for san Franciscans, and one
hundred thousand in establishing a home
for old ladies who have no means of support.
These are the principal purposes of the trust,
though there are numerous gifts of $4,000
and $40, 600 to various charities. The fami-
ly of Mr.. Lick are scantily remembered.
{ He gives $1,000 apiece for grayestones for
those who are gone and the same sum or less
to those who suryive-less than fifty thous-
and dollars in all. After these purposes are
accomplished the residue of his estate goes
in equal portions to the California Academy
of Sciences and the Sociecy of California Pic.
neers, to be used in the erection of suitable
buildings and the purchase of libraries, sci
, entiic collections apparatus, and other
things useful to the advancement of science.
: The trust embraces every inch of ground
: and every cent of money owned by Mr.. Lick.
) lie places himself ON the list of his own ben.
g eiiciaries, in a curious manner. lie reserves
5 for himself the use and enjoyment during his
life of his homestead property at San Jose,
E in Santa Clara county, which is to revert af-
ter his death to the two societies last men,
toned and he further charges that the trus-
{. tees shall pay to him ''such sums of money
q as he may from day to day or from week to
p week demand OF them, not, however, exceed
|, ing the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars
q in any one year" 1t is said that it requir-
ed some persuasion to induce him to receive
o SO large a sum as this for his own USE Such
u in shori is a sletch,of the most extraordinary
public bequest of our time. 1t differs wide
ly from the Peabody beneiactions in the fac
!, that the California capitalist has reserve,
- SO little for himself, and has left almos
nothing for his relatives. The trust, if wise
=, ly and luckily administered, may be mad
- the means Of great good, but this it is in,
=, possible for any one to foresee. No one ca
help being a little nervous as TO the dispos
ton to be made of S3jO,OOO dollars devote
;" to monumental art. The trustees have it i
- their power to give the Pacific Coast two
the finest monuments in the world, or
:" cover the name of james Lick with ridicu
y more enduring chan brass.
II -- ~------
e. \ man who had saved the life of daugl
in ter of Boston millionaire, received S.,
from the grateful parent lie was so owe
u, come with the magnificent bounty that
paid ont every cent of il TO feyenteen org,