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| THE GREAT YERKES TELESCOPE - Before us, on its
high hollow-iron tower, we see the largest telescope in the world, as
it was exhibited on Columbia Avenue in the Manufactures Building. It
stood in the centre of the great aisle, between the clock tower and
the north end, and near the booth of wonderful polished Arizona
petrifactions. By means of the two axles on which the main cylinder
was pivoted, the instrument could be pointed toward any star in the
hemisphere, and at many times visitors were able to behold the
operator putting the telescope through all its motions. The
machinery within was operated by electricity. After the Fair it was
dismounted, and on the night of January 8, 1894, while the
Manufactures Buildings was on fire, President Harper, of the
University near by, secured aid enough to carry the tube out of the
threatened structure. Mr. John R. Johnson, Jr., who owns a beautiful
house on the banks of Lake Geneva, Wis., near Williams Bay, tendered
to the University the use of fifty acres on both lake and bay for the
observatory. This generous offer was accepted, because the
atmosphere of Chicago is too smoky for astronomical purposes. Mr.
Charles T. Yerkes, the cable-car magnate, gave the University
authority to make the largest telescope in the world at his expense,
and it is said $500,000 was expended. The main lens is forty inches
in diameter. It was not in the tube at Chicago, as it had not then
been completed. |
