CHAPTER NINETEEN 



IN the early fall of 1892 I once more had the op- 

 portunity to help in testing a noteworthy me- 

 chanical invention. This involved the ascent of the automobile 

 neighboring peak of Mount Hamilton (seat of the 

 Lick Observatory) in the first automobile on the 

 Pacific Coast. For by that time the conception of 

 the horseless vehicle had begun to spread, the 

 gasoline engine having made possible its practical 

 realization. In France a special interest had already 

 developed, and a "self-moving" wagon, automobile, 

 was minutely described in a French engineering 

 journal. Using the information there given, a clever 

 mechanician of San Francisco, Elliott by name, 

 proceeded to construct a machine of his own. It 

 ran well on level ground, but a test in hill climbing 

 was of course necessary. This being arranged by 

 the San Francisco Examiner, Bailey Millard, then 

 its editor, asked me to accompany Elliott on the 

 Mount Hamilton trip. Following in a carriage were 

 representatives of the press, as well as Albert W. 

 Smith, our newly appointed professor of Mechan- 

 ical Engineering, with whom I changed seats toward 

 the end of the run. 



The machine crept gingerly up the twenty-six 

 miles of sharply winding road to the summit, and 

 in coming down wore out all the crude brakes 

 devised by the inventor. But the essential fact 

 remained that a horseless vehicle built in Cali- 

 fornia had successfully climbed 440x3 feet of mountain. 



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