The Location of George Madeira's Observatory

Stockton Astronomical Society

The Location of George Madeira's Observatory
Appendix A to "Young Man in Volcano"

Marshal F. Merriam
January 2006

The first astronomical observatory in California, set up by George Madeira in Volcano, Amador County, and operated for two years is commemorated by a bronze plaque, State Historical Marker Number 715. The original marker, dedicated in November 1968 with great ceremony, heavy press coverage, many VIP's in attendance, will soon be quietly removed. The replacement plaque will be installed in 2006 in a different place. What's the story?

The plaque unveiled in l968 bears the message: "ON THE KNOLL BEHIND THIS MARKER, GEORGE MADEIRA BUILT THE FIRST ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY OF RECORD IN CALIFORNIA....". The knoll in question is on Shake Ridge Road, some four miles (by road) from Volcano town at an elevation of about 3000 ft. The site was identified by Victor Killick of Sacramento in 1958. Mr Killick, of the Sacramento Junior College Observatory and Vice-President of the Sacramento Valley Astronomical Society, became interested in establishing and commemorating the beginning of California's astronomical history. It was at that time well known that George Madeira was the first Californian to study the heavens with a telescope, that he had lived in Volcano and had set up an observatory there. Killick decided to investigate and determine the location. When he went to Volcano and talked with local older residents he at first had no success. He reports [1] that he could not even find anyone who had heard of the observatory--which had operated 1860-62, about 90 years prior. He searched old newspapers and recruited others to help him, also without result. Killick then tells us that he was able to interview a Mrs Alberta Hale of Volcano, granddaughter of a Mrs Sarah C. Ferry. Mrs Ferry reportedly had arrived in Volcano in the mid-19th century, about the same time as George Madeira. Mrs Hale remembered that her grandmother had once stated, "There used to be a queer man in Volcano who looked at the stars.". Mrs Hale also recalled that someone had told her that George Madeira had lived in Clapboard Gulch, a small ravine heading northward out of Volcano. The top of this gully is almost at the boundary of Mrs Hale's property, which had formerly belonged to her grandmother, Mrs Ferry. So Killick and his collaborators began a search in this area, noticing that it was an excellent site for an observatory.

In September 1958, Killick relates, he met a grandson of Mrs Ferry, a cousin of Mrs Hale, one Edward Lehn of Stockton. Mr Lehn had lived on the Ferry estate as a young man. Mr Lehn told Killick that some fifty years before (i.e., l908) the Madeira observatory was already in ruins, but that its foundation remained. He had helped clear away the foundation stones. He had heard his grandmother talk about the observatory and it was common knowledge to him. Two other older residents of Volcano supported the facts related by Lehn, according to Killick.

Killick continues: "Mr and Mrs Lehn, Mrs Hale and I then went to the site of the observatory and it was re-located immediately."

To add to the story, Mr. Jock Thebaut and his wife Muriel Thebaut, local residents of Volcano with a strong interest in local history, had, according to Jock Thebaut, already embarked on a quest for Madeira's observatory, even before Killick became interested. Mr Thebaut states that Muriel's extensive field notes were loaned to Killick [2]. In Killick's published article the Thebauts are not mentioned.

However, Clarence Custer, M.D., the Founder of the Stockton Astronomical Society, in his speech at the dedication ceremony for the monument placed later (1968) said that in September 1953 Carl Wells of the Sacramento society, gave a lecture in Stockton entitled "Heroes in Astronomy". In this talk he informed the Stockton group that he and Victor Killick had heard a lecture by Mrs Muriel Thebaut of Volcano. Mrs Thebaut told them that her husband, Jock Thebaut, had told her that an old California history book described the observation of the Great Comet of 1861 by George Madeira of Volcano. It occurred to Muriel Thebaut that this probably meant that the first amateur observatory in California was located in Volcano. Custer went on to politely express doubt that the site of the Madeira observatory had in fact been located by Killick, and to say that in his opinion, "Mrs Muriel Thebaut is really the one to whom we are most indebted for again bringing to light the fact that the site of the first amateur astronomical observatory in California was near Volcano." [3].

Following the 're-location' of the site Killick took steps to place a foundation for the monument which was to come. The foundation was in place, at the edge of the road, by the end of l958. Some years then elapsed before the project was brought to completion. Killick and the Sacramento Valley Astronomical Society faded from the picture and the project was taken up by the Stockton Astronomical Society, then under the leadership of Hugh and Dorothy Tye. The State of California historical office in Sacramento approved the project and authorized the historical landmark designation. Then a large bronze plaque was cast, a large boulder brought to the site and placed on the foundation, the bronze attached to the rock and the dedication held in November 1968. Dr Clarence Custer, founder of the Stockton Astronomical Society and a respected amateur astronomer, but not leading the Stockton Society at this time, supported the project but expressed doubts about the location. He was overridden by the Tyes, forceful personalities both, according to accounts.

Custer continued to have doubts. He and Robert Birch, also of the Stockton group, spent time going carefully through the writings of George Madeira and the property deeds in the county archives. These sources would also have been available to Killick, had he been inclined to use them. Killick and the Tyes showed leadership and enthusiasm; Custer had a style which emphasized careful scholarship. In l986 Custer and Birch published their analysis [4], showing that the observatory would have been in the Volcano township, not far away on a high ridge. They found a property deed from l859 and a census record for 1860 which led them to conclude that the Madeira home, where they believed the observatory was sited, was in downtown Volcano, near the major street corner, close to where the Civil War cannon known as 'Old Abe' is kept today.

With Clarence Custer and others in the Stockton Astronomical Society taking the initiative a hearing was held, late in l991, before the State Historical Resources Commission in Sacramento. Submissions were made by parties concerned. All, except Jock Thebaut, agreed that the monument was in the wrong place and should be moved. After deliberation the State Historical Resources Commission so ordered. No funding was provided. Consequently nothing was done. Now the monument is finally being moved.

How can the location of the observatory be determined? Our primary source, just about our only source, is the writings of George Madeira himself. Fortunately there are a number of writings. He wrote for newspapers for most of his life. Occasionally he wrote about his time in Volcano and sometimes about his little observatory. Also, though he made his living in other ways, he kept up his interest in astronomy and wasn't shy about interacting with professional astronomers. When Lick Observatory opened he applied for a staff position, believing himself well qualified. He wrote to the Director on that and a number of subsequent occasions, and some of his letters, preserved in the Lick Archives, describe his observatory.

For example[5], in a letter to W.W. Campbell, then Director of Lick Observatory, he described the observatory location. In this letter he states, "There is no vestige of the observatory standing at the present time. I visited the place in 1881. The old mining town had grown dilapidated--fast crumbling with decay. The family residence, where the observatory stood and where I had resided with my parents and brothers, had been destroyed by fire. The cut stone pedestal of the observatory had disappeared, only a few of the rough blocks which once formed the base remaining." This excerpt, reproduced in Madeira's own hand in [4] from the original in the Lick Archives, establishes that the observatory was located at the family residence. That would have been normal practice at the time. There was no light pollution, in fact hardly any night lighting at all in Volcano, and the advantages of observing from higher elevations were not then appreciated even by professional astronomers.

Notice also that this account of Madeira's is quite incompatible with Killick's determination of the site based on a recollection of ruins still present in 1908. There may once have been an observatory at Killick's site--in fact the place is called 'Observatory Hill' on an old map--, but if so it wasn't the observatory of George Madeira.

In a newspaper account, written 50 years after the fact [6], George Madeira writes, "In the year 1860 I erected the first astronomical observatory and installed the first astronomical telescope in the state of California, at Volcano, Amador County, some 2200 feet above the sea....". This account gives the elevation. The elevation at the center of Volcano, near the present cannon monument, is 2053--quite a bit different from 2200. (The Killick site on Shake Ridge Road is much higher, at about 3000.). George might have been inexact when he wrote '2200', but it's seems unlikely that he could have been off by 150 ft. There are parts of Volcano, occupied by residences in l860, which are well above 2053 ft, approaching 2200. For example, a building existing today, the Catholic church, is at 2080, according to the official USGS map. The old watertank above the Catholic cemetery is at 2160. There is a small knoll near the watertank which reaches 2200 ft elevation. From old maps of the town (not as far back as 1860, however) it appears that there were a number of residences at least l00 ft above the downtown elevation. Custer and Birch, who argue that the Madeira residence was downtown at the 2053 level, point out that the elevation was fixed by a team from the Geological Survey in 1863, by which time the observatory was dismantled. He proposes that George supposed the elevation was 2200 ft when it was really 2053 and that even in later years he never became aware of this.

Where was the Madeira residence? In two letters to the editor [7], George Madeira's father (also George Madeira) gives his return address as 'Telegraph Avenue', Volcano. No such street exists today, nor on any available older maps of the town, of which the earliest is 1871.[8]. Unfortunately the route by which the telegraph wires came into town isn't known either, though it is generally believed to have been from the north-northeast. A route down the canyon then (and now) known as Clapboard Gulch is a possibility. It is tempting to speculate that George Madeira (the father), who gave his occupation as 'Gentleman' in the 1860 Census and who had been a lawyer before coming to California, lived on 'Clapboard Gulch' and thought 'Telegraph Avenue' would be a better address.

This 1871 map shows individual lots with names of the lot owners, Madeira not among them. (The family, remember, decamped to Nevada in 1862.). The telegraph line isn't shown on the 1871 map either. An old assessment book for Amador County shows an assessment on the Madeira residence in 1857, but the address is given only as 'Volcano'.

The property deeds, recorded and preserved by the County of Amador, should, in principle, be enough to settle the matter. However, when one examines the book of property deeds, and considers the population of Volcano at the time, it quickly becomes apparent that many property transactions were not recorded. I searched for deeds bearing the Madeira name in the Amador County Recorder's Office from 1854 (when Amador County began its existence, splitting off from Calaveras) and in the Calaveras County records for 1852-54. I found the same deeds as did Custer and Birch. One deed records a purchase by George Madeira, Sr. in 1859 of downtown property next to the present site of the civil war cannon, on Consolation Street, close to the corner with Main. The other two deeds are sales, one in 1856 of downtown property for a town square and the other in 1862 of property which appears to be a mining claim, not a residence. Custer and Birch identified the 1859 purchase on Consolation Street with the Madeira residence, but it seems unlikely that this was in fact the residence, where the observatory was located. An alternative explanation could be that it was commercial property. We know that the Madeiras kept a store [9]. This would have been a very good location for a store. For a residence, housing two parents and one grown son plus (at the time of the 1860 census) George Jr's wife and child, it would have been rather small. The size of the lot, given in the deed, is 18.5 ft x 39 ft, or about 722 sq. ft. The building on this lot could not have been any larger. Adequate for a commercial purpose perhaps, but not for a family residence holding five people. George Madeira Sr is listed in the 1860 census as 'gentleman'--hardly consistent with living in such cramped quarters. The census identifies the Madeira household with the downtown location, but it seems possible that the census taker, moving along the main street, enumerated the Madeiras at their place of business.

The writings of George Madeira which bear on the question of the location of the family home were all written years later. Still, there is little reason to suspect that he wouldn't remember the relevant details.

In 1878, returning to Volcano after 16 years, he describes climbing a hill at the edge of town and looking down "...on the home of our youth--on the very house we built and occupied for so many years--". (In another account he says that the house had been destroyed by fire, so presumably he was looking at ruins.). From this account we can conclude that there was one house during the time in Volcano, not a succession of houses with moves every year or two.[10]. We can also infer that no subsequent house had been built on the site of the Madeira house after it had been destroyed. Thus, the house could well have been on the outside edge of the town.(Remember, the population of the town was steadily shrinking.)

In the Santa Rosa Republican of 1910, when Halley's Comet was approaching and wild superstitions were circulating about the disasters which might ensue, George wrote about his observations of the Great Comet of 1861 from his small observatory at the family home in Volcano. He wrote: "...I ran to Telerand's home, shouting: I have discovered a huge comet!"...I led him to the west side of his residence and pointed...The professor became very much excited and we ran for the little observatory...My father, mother, and brothers viewed the comet through the instrument to their great satisfaction."[6]. From this we conclude that the Madeira house was not far from the Telerand home, within short running distance. Telerand was the Methodist minister in town (since 1857). The location of the Methodist church is known, though there is no church there today. Today there is the Methodist cemetery, located where the church used to be. It was the custom then for a church to provide a house for the minister, commonly called the parsonage. The location of the parsonage, as shown on the 1971 map, was at the edge of the Methodist cemetery property, the edge closest to the Catholic cemetery, just north of the Methodist church. Although the map is dated 1871, there is independent evidence, from old church records, that a Methodist parsonage existed in Volcano from 1858. Presumably it was located as shown on the map.

Thus the observatory location is constrained to lie within 'running distance' of the parsonage, and the location of the parsonage is shown on the map (Fig. l). It is also constrained to be at, or close to, 2200 ft elevation. The home had to be 'on' some street, though not necessarily close to the street. The western edge of Clapboard Gulch would seem the most likely possibility, with the observatory being west or northwest of the house.

If one goes today to the cemetery (on Church Street), called 'Protestant Cemetery' on modern maps, enters on foot under the iron arch and proceeds 16 paces straight ahead, then turns left and goes 7 paces, one will be at the cemetery boundary looking out to the north over a chained gate. In 1860 the hills would have been bare, with all the trees cut off. Today the trees make it difficult to see the topography, or to imagine an observatory with a good view of the horizon. Standing at the gate and looking out, the old water tower is about 30 degrees to the left. The Catholic Cemetery is about 45 degrees to the left. About 45 degrees to the right is a white house with a red door. The suspected observatory location is between 30 degrees left and 45 degrees right, on higher ground. More than that cannot be said without archeological investigation.

References--Appendix A

1. Killick, Victor W., "First Amateur Astronomical Observatory of Record in California", The Griffith Observer, April 1959, p.56-59. A publication of Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles.

2. Jock Thebaut, personal communication, 2004.

3. The text of the speech of Clarence Custer, M.D. can be found in the Amador County Archives in the file recording the proceedings of the 1991 Hearings on the monument location.

4. Custer, Clarence P., M.D. and Birch, Robert W., "New Focus on a Pioneer Astronomer", The Griffith Observer, September 1986, p.15-20. A publication of Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles.

5. Letter, George Madeira to W.W. Campbell, Director of Lick Observatory, 11 November 1914. This letter,and others from Madeira, is preserved in the Mary Lea Shane Archives of Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz.

6. Santa Rosa Republican, 3 March 1910.

7. Volcano Weekly Ledger 15 December 1855, also VWL 29 December 1855.

8. Map of Volcano. Scale: 1"=80'. Surveyed and drawn by Ben Ross. Original 1871. Filed with County Recorder on 6 July 1937.

9. Healdsburg Enterprise, 30 October 1909.

10. Santa Cruz Sentinel, 21 December 1878.