The Northern star, and constitutionalist. [volume] (Warren, R.I.) 1834-1837, 1835-05-02

afternoon OF Wednesday the 9th inst. M r.
Clayton, volunteer eronaut in the West
made an ascent from Cincinnati and
was observed TO pass in south easterly
direction. Nothing moro was seen or
heard of him for number Of days, and
great anxiety was felt for his safety. AT
length, on the l7th, (nine days after his
departure) he returned to Cincinnati,
having made the most extraordinary
eronautic excurtion on record. He did
not indeed ascend so high as a number
have done before him but the distance
he sailed is beyond all precedent, being
not less than three hundred and fifty
miles All this was accomplished in
nine and hall hours, which is at the
rate OF nearly thirty seyen miles an hour.
| The greatest height to which he ascended
was about two and half miles. MI
Clayton has furnished an interesting ac-
count OF his voyage to the Cincinnati pa
pers, liom which we make the following
extracts
A little before six my altitude was two
and half miles. l felt little cold the
THERMOMETERS stood at % degrees. l sat
my self down in the car and took some
reireshment. l was now moving
delightfully."- through the air the lit
tie agitation the balloon received on
starting had now ceased there was not
the least rotary or oscillatory motion per-
ceptible ; not single ripple IN the silk Of
the balloon to be seen and all was perfect
silence. / could almost have imagined
that l was an inhabtant of little world
Of my own, fixed IN the immensely ofspace
and could view at my feet, the earth in
motion, revolving on its axis.
While in sight OF New River / ap-
preached the earth; my ballast was nearly
exhausted, and as the place over which |
was floating appeared TO be an open coun-
try, prepared for descent. l threw
overheard my anchor, which, after drag
ging for little distance, caught firmly
hold of atree but on coming close to the
tops, l found, to my surprise, that instead
of hne open country, was in dense
forest, on a considerable elevation. The
wind was blowing powerfully, and finding
il impossible to bre ak the hold OF the an
chor, the only way of liberating myself
from this situation was to cut away the
cable. This l~did, and in short time as
cended to an altitude as great as had
previously attained. The cold was in
tense but could not ascertain the heighth
of the thermometer have no doubt It
was nearly as low as zero. l had now
lost sight the water courses, and could
see no lights in my direction. / laid my
self down in the bottom OF the car, button
ed my coat tight around ME, put on my
gloves, covered myself with two blankets
f which had taken as wrappers for the
balloon, drank some brandy, ielt comfor-
table and highly delighted with my nov el
"Trip, and III this situation feel fast asleep.
l was awakened at last by my car striking.
l immediately sprang on my feet, and in
another moment the car was dragging
over the tops Of the trees. saw before
me a river, and thought some buildings
they appeared but little distance from
me, but afterwards found they were a
bout four miles of. attempted to stop
my balloon by clinging to the Branches of
the trees. Several Of them broke but
at last caught hold of a strong bough,
end by clnging with all my strength
with one hand, and pulling the vavle
rope with the other, was enabled in q
short time to draw my car down the tree
several feet, and secure it by means of
a rope. Alter being confdant that l
had secured my balloon. l looked at my
watch & found it 10 be half after o'clock.
, Al this time of the morning thought it
would be useless to 60 in search OF any
: assistance. l therefore remained in the
, car, forty feet at least from the ground
until day break land then descended to ex-
, plore the wilderness in which had landed
4 could discover no trace Of human
footsteps, no mark Of change produced by
. man. Numerous large trees had been
, leveled to the ground, bui there was no
mark OF the woodman's axe upon them !;
they had evidently been uprooted by the
hurricane. Perceiving that was on
mountain, and that there was another
poI"t still higher, l ascended TO the top
a OF il, and perceived in the valley, and Ia
o the direction that had seen the river the
: previous evening, cultivated spot. AZ
d ter travelling alongside Of a beautiful spring
r. rivulet for about 3 miles, found this spot
. but had to follow track of miles fur
i ther TO get assistance. We conveyed tn.
Q balloon to the house Of MIR Joseph Gra-
n ham, respectable aud intelligent farmer
r with whom 1 remained three days before
: could get conveyance to return
During my stay ut Mr. Graham's l was
visited by great numbers Of people from
the surrounding country. The spot on
which landed, is the top of tho noun
tain, 5000 feet. as indicated by the ba-
rometsr, above the level Of the sea, and
0 is called Stevsnson's Knob, near Keen