SUMMER 2013 Stargazers: Building the Washburn and Yerkes Observatories Life on the Fox River Locks BOOK EXCERPT Something for Everyone Experience it for yourself: gettoknowwisconsin.org Wisconsin Historic Sites and Museums Old World Wisconsin—Eagle Black Point Estate—Lake Geneva \lM' Circus World—Baraboo Pendarvis—Mineral Point Wade House—Greenbush Stonefield—Cassville WISCONSIN Villa Louis—Prairie du Chien H. H. Bennett Studio—Wisconsin Dells HISTORICAL Madeline Island Museum—La Pointe First Capitol—Belmont SOCIETY Wisconsin Historical Museum—Madison Reed School—Neillsville Remember—Society members receive discounted admission. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY Division Administrator & State Historic Preservation Officer Michael E. Stevens Director, Wisconsin Historical Society Press Kathryn L. Borkowski Editor Jane M. de Broux Managing Editor Diane T. Drexler Research and Editorial Assistants Rachel Cordasco, Jesse Gant, Joel Heiman, John Nondorf, John Zimm Design Barry Roal Carlsen, University Communications and Marketing 2 Stargazers THE WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY (ISSN 0043-6534), published quarterly, is a benefit of membership in the Building the Washburn and Yerkes Wisconsin Historical Society. Observatories, 1870-1900 Full membership levels start at $45 for individuals and $65 for by Rachel S. Cordasco institutions. To join or for more information, visit our website at wisconsinhistory.org/membership or contact the Membership Office at 888-748-7479 or e-mail [email protected]. 16 History of the Fox River Locks The Wisconsin Magazine of History has been published quarterly and Reuben Gold Thwaites's since 1917 by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Copyright ©2013 by the State Historical Society ofWisconsin. 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Contributor guidelines can be found on the by Enaya Othman Wisconsin Historical Society website at www.wisconsinhistory.org/ wmh/contribute.asp.The Wisconsin Historical Society does not assume responsibility for statements made by contributors. 50 BOOK EXCERPT Contact Us: Something for Everyone Editorial: 608-264-6549 [email protected] Memories of Lauerman Brothers Membership/Change of Address: 608-264-6543 Department Store [email protected] by Michael Leannah Reference Desk/Archives: 608-264-6460 [email protected] Mail: 816 State Street, Madison, Wl 53706 54 William Best Hesseltine Award Periodicals postage paid at Madison, Wl 53706-1417. Back issues, if available, are $8.95 plus postage from the Wisconsin Historical Museum store. Call toll-free: 888-999-1669. 56 Curio Microfilmed copies are available through UMI Periodicals in Microfilm, part of National Archive Publishing, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106, www.napubco.com. On the front cover: Aerial view of Yerkes Observatory OMATT MASON PHOTOGRAPHY VOLUME 96, NUMBER 4 / SUMMER 2013 Building the Washburn and Yerkes Observatories, 1870-1900 BY RACHELS. CORDASCO IT ' ii IIIH^—il mmmJ y§fWm*~ i 'li J A **X the Yerkes Observatory pier, amatei Sherburne Burnham, stands at the controls of the 40 inch refracto telescope. Burnham discovered several new pairs of double stars. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY "The telescope may be likened to a wondrous Cyclopean eye, embued with superhuman . power, by which the astronomer extends the reach of his vision to the further heavens, and surveys galaxies and universes compared with which the solar system is JL but an atom floating in the air."1 — Edward Everett At the Yerkes Observatory dedication ceremony in 1897 in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, astrophysicist and professor James Keeler told his distinguished audi­ ence that both astronomy and astrophysics "enable us better to understand the universe of which we form a part, and that they elevate the thoughts and ennoble the minds of men."2 While his audience of scientists, University of Chicago trustees, and inves­ tors must have believed this already, having supported the creation of the observatory, it was still important for Keeler to articulate this grand claim. After all, this was the golden (Above) The great spiral galaxy in Andromeda (M31, NGC 224) age of American telescopes and observato­ photographed with the 24-inch ries, when research universities across the reflector telescope of Yerkes Observatory over a four-hour country raised millions of dollars and lured exposure. away each others' top scientists to establish 3 (Middle) Sherburne Burnham, preeminent astronomy departments. It ca If was time, scientists believed, for America to (Left) Distinguished catch up to Europe, and even surpass it, in astrophysicist, James Edward the observation and analysis of the heavenly Keeler, was speaker at the Yerkes dedication ceremony in 1897. bodies and the universe at large. SUMMER 2013 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY astronomers and philanthropic businessmen at the end of the nineteenth century. While scientists Edward Holden and George Hale brought their visions of what the ideal observa­ tory should look like, magnates C. C. Washburn and Charles Tyson Yerkes supplied the capital and fame, and both universi­ ties and Wisconsin reaped the benefits. Building the Washburn Observatory During much of the nineteenth century, American scien­ tists looked to Europe for the latest astronomical discoveries and innovations, since the former often lacked the necessary resources and institutional support necessary for carrying out their work. Nonetheless, scientists in America aspired to build telescopes and observatories that would rival those in Europe. Americans were particularly good at building large telescopes: the last half of the nineteenth century witnessed the construction of record-breaking instruments across the country, including the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC (26-inch objective lens, 1873), the Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, San Jose, California (36-inch lens, 1887), and the Yerkes Observatory (40-inch lens, 1897).5 In Wisconsin, the Washburn Observatory materialized with the support of former representative, governor, and Civil War general Cadwallader C. Washburn.6 As universities and colleges across the nation were expanding their scientific and research capabilities, the University of Wisconsin wanted to lead the way in innovation and exploration. Thus, in 1876, thanks to a legislative resolution, a professorship in astronomy Portrait of Cadwallader C. Washburn, Governor ofWisconsin, 1872- was created with the caveat that a patron would need to donate 1874. He financed the Washburn Observatory with funds from his an observatory in which the astronomer could work. Wash­ fortune made in the flour-milling industry. burn, a major backer of the legislation, provided the necessary funds, having made a fortune from his Hour-milling industry.' Wisconsin proved to be an ideal site for astronomical As the observatory's second director, Edward S. Holden, observations because of its clear, unobstructed skies. It was would write of Washburn years later, "[a]s long as the Obser­ also home to the prestigious University of Wisconsin and vatory which he founded shall stand, and shall continue to do neighbor of the University of Chicago, both important useful and faithful work, so long his name will be remembered institutions in the development of American higher educa­ among us all, and specially remembered by the students of our tion, professionalization, and scientific research at the end University, for whose benefit these instruments were placed."8 of the nineteenth century. During the last three decades of Construction began in May 1878, with the new observa­ the nineteenth century, the Washburn Observatory (Univer­ tory rising up from what is today called "Observatory Hill" sity of Wisconsin) and the Yerkes Observatory (University on the west side of the UW-Madison campus. This spot was of Chicago) rose up from the Wisconsin landscape as mate­ ideal, since it was far enough away from the town and campus rial symbols of an American scientific renaissance. Their and surrounded by woodlands, farmland, and orchards, one construction and dedications were followed closely by hundred feet above Lake Mendota. In keeping with the prac­ local and regional newspapers, which repeatedly reminded tice of luring away top scientists from other universities, the readers that they should be proud of their new observatories. University hired James Craig Watson, the director of the After all, the larger and more sophisticated telescopes housed Detroit Observatory at the University of Michigan, to be in those structures would enable astronomers to learn more Washburn's first director. Watson's claim to fame by the 1870s about the universe than ever before. This would distinguish was his discovery