The Lick Observatory, San Jose, California. James Lick (1796-1876) was born in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania. He learned to make fine pianos and at twenty-five he went to South America where he prospered in his trade for many years. In 1847 he decided to move to San Francisco, and the following January he sailed through the Golden Gate. He had with him $30,000 in gold coins, his work bench,
and 600 lbs of chocolate on consignment from his neighbour in Lima, Domingo Ghirardelli.
 

Lick purchased land in San Francisco and near San Jose where he lived for twenty years. Through farsighted investment in real estate he amassed a fortune of three million dollars. As he neared eighty, alone and ill, he placed his entire estate in the hands of a Board of Trustees to administer. His largest single benefaction was the sum of $700,000 to erect a telescope "superior to and more powerful than any yet made, and also a suitable observatory connected therewith." He chose the site of Mt. Hamilton although he was never able to ascend the mountain. It was the first large mountain top observatory and it set the pattern for others to follow. By Lick's direction it became a part of the University of California on its completion in 1888.