The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-08-06
a Visit to the Star Ga
zers'' of Mt. HAMILTON.
SAN JOSE, CAL,
july %. 1897.

Christian Endeavor excursion wer,
disappointed in ascending Pike
Peak, that most famous of all Rock
Mountain peaks, when your CORES
pendent reached San Jose, the de
termination to ascend Mt. Hamilton
and view the heavens through The
famous Lick telescope, was upper
most in her mind.
A box seat in genuine noun
tain stage was engaged two days be
fore the ascent. On Thursday morn.
ing, July 10Th, we drove from st.
James Hotel. One hundred and
sixty were booked for the visit on
that day. Saturday evenings are
always devoted to visitors, but ow-
ing to the rush of Fasteners, the
professors kindly broke the rule,
and tourists were admitted on every
evening during the week. On this
particular day, old Sol was beaming
down with an unusual degree of fer
vor. You know here, especially at
this season, there is nothing but
sunshine, eternal sunshine, and
strange to say the higher we went
the hotter it grew-rather paradox
ical, isn't it?
Mount Hamilton, the way the
crow flies, is only Is miles from
San Jose, but to lessen the sudden
ness of the ascent, Santa Clara
County constructed one of the most
magnificent mountain roads in the
world at a cost of one hundred
thousand dollars. The white domes
of the Observatory are seen all along
the line, keeping guard as it were
over the peaceful valley. Right
picturesque the different stages look
ed, winding in and around the many
curves, the occupants, as they came
within range of vision, waving mer-
rily to each other. Half way up the
mountain a new relay of horses is
had, short stop made for luncheon
then away we go, the driver crack
ing his whip over the backs of four
horses. One, at least, in our stage
of Is passengers, was exceedingly
anxious to handle a ''four-in- hand;"
but, Mr.. Editor, "the best driver on
the road" facetiously remarked that
he would prefer walking should the
lines change hands. So the powers
that be had to rule. The nearer the
summit, the more picturesque be-
came the scenery. "Horse Shoe
Curve" ''Hairpin Curve" "Cape
Horn" and "Inspiration Point" ere
quickly passed, our four lovely bays
gracefully rounding them, but the
lead going SO dangerously near the
brink that the mind could scarcely
conceive of how more than four hor-
ses could be driven, but it is done,
merely by "a simple twist of the
wrist" Glimpses of the bay were
had from different points. Yawn-
ing canons to the right of us, ter
rible gulches to the left of us caus-
ed expressions of fear and dismay
to escape our lips many times. ooh!
my" canon is quite near the top, and
the dizzy moonlight swing around
it on the descent caused one of the
more timid occupants of the interior
to call out, "driver, please, we do
not want to go so FAST" and the
response was, "you girls must not
talk to the driver-let him watch
the horses"
Mount Hamilton is 4, 444 feet
above the sea level. 1t is said that
there are 673 curves In the road, and
that the lead horses in a team of
six, travel one mile further than
the others in making the ascent.
We reached the summit just in
time to get glimpse of most gor-
geous sunset. He seemed to linger
on the horizon few seconds, then
dropped into the ocean, where he
remained few minutes, as if in a
vessel of liquid fire. Through the
courtesy of Prof. Schaeberle, our
party was shown Jupiter and his
four satellites, the fifth not being
observable. ooh! it is just like
the picture" ''No, the picture is
just like it" said our guide. We
next took places to await our turn
to viewSaturn, through, atthat time,
the largest telescope in the world.
The sight was indeed glorious. How
thankful we felt to be so fortunate!
How wonderful is the mind of man
in conceiving, planning and execut-
ing such piece of mechanism, by
which the heavens, millions miles
away, can be brought SO nearl The
Observatory equipments and tele.
scope were the gift of the late James
T1 - Ie. aEoO ooo - 49,