Yesteryears:Apr 27, 1993 Vol 22 No 2

Section of tfie Salem 1\&ws L toni t I sco e firm as John Mellish was self taught i:nventor, discovered 5 comets By Dale Shaffer inadequate, so he bought a He notified the Washburn OHN EDWARD MELLISH, two-inch r_efractor telescope for Observatory in Madison, and a builder of astronomical $16. It dehghted him by show astronomers there confirmed !lescopes, lived in Leetonia ing him many new stars. that he had sighted a new from 1916 to the mid-1920s. His During these early years he cornet. business was in the front and was reading every book and Another observer, however, second story room of his home article on astronomy he could had also seen the comet, so in the east end. It was unlike get his hands on. Then he Mellish had to share the dis anything of the kind in Colum began reading a book on how covery. The comet was named biana County. In fact, his was to make telescopes and "1907 II Grigg-Mellish." In the one of only six such telescope decided to make o~e for fall of that year Mellish spotted making businesses in the himself. another new cornet, and this United States. He sent to Chicago for two time his name alone was given One of his large telescopes glass disks six inches in diame to it. was mounted on a tripod in his ~er and s:pent the winter grind- Mellish was now in touch backyard. Passersby would 1~g a rnrrror. Working with with a number of professional often stop and be invited to hght from a window and ker astronomers. He wanted to take a closer look at the moon osene lamp, he moved one disk leave the farm and obtain work and stars. over the other, with emory at an observatory, but money Mellish was born Jan. 12, powder in between. Gradually, was a problem. Edwin Frost 1886 in Wisconsin and grew up he created a convex surface on director of the Yerkes Obser: on his grandfather's farm three the lower glass and a concave vatory, began take a special miles south of the village of surface on the upper. i~terest in Mellish, encouraging Cottage Grove. He attended By spring he had a six-inch him to continued his optical only grade school and spent concave disk that could be work. Mellish built a 9Yi -inch most of his time doing hard silvered to make the mirror he and 16-inch reflector for his work on the farm. needed to construct a reflecting own use and wrote several arti John Mellish poses with one of the astronomical telescopes he His interest in astronomy telescope. His homemade tele cles on telescope making for produced in his Leetonia laboratory shown in the background. began in 1902 at the age of 16 scope attracted the attention of the Scientific American. when he was given a little spy the neighborhood and many In 1910 when Halley's comet more about astronomical the Crescent Wood-Working glass. He used it first to look at visitors came to look at the approached, he was one of the photography. Machine Co. Mellish's duties uistanl objects in the landscape, Milky Way and other heavenly first to see it when it became But again, money was a included the use of the tele and then turned it on the moon sights. In 1905 he wrote an arti visible to the naked eye. That problem. At Frost's urging, scope for visitors on certain and stars. The glass, however, cle on telescope_ making for year he became a "cooperative Mellisl\ .:.Jipplied for and public nights. He also had was too weak for him to see Popular Mechanics, and this meteorological observer" for received'~"'$300 grant from the ample time for personal obser much of everything. brought him several orders for the Weather Bureau, recording National Academy of Science. vation with his own telescopes, He then bought a four dollar telescopes. rain, snowfall and other atmo He spent 15 months at Yerkes and the facilities allowed him telescope that had been adver On the evening of April 12, spheric conditions. with the title of volunteer to continue his work in making tised in the newspaper. Look 1907, when he was 21 years of But he was frustrated with research assistant. His major reflecting telescopes. ing thr9ugh it to view the ·age, he happened to be scan his limited equipment. He project was to search for faint Harrold gave him free use of moon, he was surprised to see ning the northern sky when he could grind the mirrors and comets that did not approach a large, older home. Leetonia streaks and "wavy things that spotted a faint object where no lenses needed for hieh auaJitv close to the sun. While there he seemed like a good location for looked like flames." But this such object should have been. telescopes, but they also discovered another comet, and telescope making because it instrument soon became It looked like a "tail of smoke." required accurate clock drives may have been the first astro- was close to numerous indust ana other accessories. He had nomer to observe craters on rial towns where materials little money, since his optical Mars. could be purchased. Mellish business was not very profit Mellish never returned to the could get all the brass tubing able. This forced him to farm. On June 15, 1915 he mar- scrounge for broken devices ried Jessie Wood of Glencoe, ., he needed from nearby Salem~ illinois, and their first child, In 1917 he discovered from the Washburn and Yerkes ,, another comet, one that observatories. veronica, was born on April 30 In February of 1915 Mellish a year later. The couple would appears every 145 years. But This 25-ligne hinge cap telescope was the most powerful tele discovered his third comet. have 10 children, two of whom Leetonia was not a very suit- scope Sears Roebuck sold for astronomical work in the 1900s, This was turning point in his died in infancy. able place for astronomical a L 11 f viewing. Thick haze from the for $19.70. "This telescope forms an ideal instrument, showing life because it brought an invi In th 0 1 clearly and distinctly... the f1!YSterious spots on the surface of e ra 1916 Melish factories and mills dimmed the tation from Frost to spend was given the opportunity to night sky. About the only time the sun, wonderful mountain ranges and apparently extinct some time that summer at take charge of a well-equipped the sky was clear was when the craters of the moon, satellites and surface markings of the Yerkes. This would give him an private laboratory in Leetonia. mills ·were on strike. Mellish elf!nt .!UJ?iter, .t~e. wonderful rings of Saturn, the canals on opportunity to use the obser It was ovmed bv Elmer Har ,11ars,' tne catawg reads. vatory's equipment, and ieam rold, secretary and manager of See ::\,1ellishJ pag:e· 6 ~~~~ '-~~...:.....-'-~~~~,~~~~~~~~;;: Cable Car Museum may become a relic By RICHARD LORANT The collection will go into Associated Press Writer storage until the society finds a N A BALCONY OVER new home, possibly in another O LOOKING the whirring city, said Arthur Lloyd, chair cables and whirling wheels that man of the Pacific Coast drive the world's only cable Chapter. cars, the San Francisco Cable "It would be strange to have Car Museum has in the past a cable car museum in Balti offered glimpses of a largely more, I agree. But we just can't bygone era. continue to sustain a loss of But the museum itself may $2,000 a month," Lloyd said. become a relic, as much a part The museum derived nearly of the city's past as the vintage all its income from gift shop 1873 cable car it displays. sales, and paid 5 percent of the The Pacific Coast Chapter of gross to the city. the Railway & Locomotive His Municipal officials said they torical Society, which has run wanted the museum to add the museum since it was better exhibits so the cash founded in 1974, closed the strapped city could increase its museum the end of March current take of about $17,000 a because it couldn't afford to year. keep running it. But the city turned down A declining number of visi society proposals to charge tors and rising security costs admission or establish parking have left the nonprofit society for tour buses, which took the running the free museum at a museum off their itineraries a loss. few years ago because of park City officials hope to reopen ing problems. the museum under new man "To impose a fee .essentially agement within a year, but for people to see a souvenir they admit no cable car shop would be unfair," said museum can prosper without June Rago, a San Francisco Bay area native from Marin, <;:alifornia visits t~e San Francis.co John Corser, manager of mark Cable Car Museum for the last time before the NJ.arch closing because of a disagreement with the SG('iety's three antique cars, eting and promotion for the which form the mainstav of the the city. The collection will go into st~rage until a new ho1!fe is foun~ for the_ museum, run by Municipal Railway. the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway anad Locomotive Historical Society. collection. , In addition to the society's three cars, including one from San Francisco in 1873 and and elsewhere.

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