Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1859-07-15
THE GREAT BALLOON TRIP.

: to Henderson, Jefferson Co. n. Y, ll5C
miles in less than % hous, that is at the
average rate of about 81 miles an hour, Is
one of the most remarkable on record. The
balloon was one Of great size, containing
about $4,000 cubic feet of gas, with an In
gersol life boat attached, having four wheels
and a gearing, by which the boat could be
propelled at Il good rate in the water Mr..
Wise himself (urnishe the following account
Of the voyage to the Al5any Fee. Jamnal.
Although it was intended to have started
Oh this voyage on the 23d of June, we were
delayed in cur preparations until the lst Of
July BY o'clock p. NJ, the ship At
lantic' was daily inflated, and while were
lH'tu- "a~ I'M triu with ballast and prlvi-
81 rS Nh Bro,.s. lessee % tha IS. Louis
Museum, who had kindly volunteered to es-
c0rt US over the Mississippi in Els balloon
Comet got ready for the occasion, and
upon a signal agreed assembled from the
ground. At 7:20 P NJ the "Atlantic' was
ready to sail. Messrs. La Mountain and
eager, thinking some difficulty might arise
at the start if they should attach the fore
wheels to the shafts and wheel-gearing, de-
termined to omit that until we should be
/ fairly underway next morning. Having had
/ much experience in hard winds, and the pc
rils Of landing a balloon under them, we had
constructed at St. Louis a good wicker-wOrk
car (Which. with Il good and strong concen-
tric hoop, are life-preservers in these perlls,)
which was suspended between the boat and
balloon, and about feet above lhe former
and within feet oi the hoop, - tat the
neck of the balloon hung in the blsket-caT
whenever the balloon was iaily distended.
The boat contained 600 pounds of ballast.
one bucket Of water, one bucket OF lemonade,
with an abundance Of bread and Wine, poul-
try and sandwiches, besides delicaces. TOO
mum rous to enumerate. furnished by kind /
friends. Mr.. La Mountain took command /
Of tie boat and ballast, and took his place |
on one end; Mr. eager took the other end. !
and took charge Of the charts and compass; /
Mr.. Hyde. local editor Of the st. Louis Re
publican, took his seat in the middle, with |
notebook and pencil. as historian. Although |
Mr. Hyde was not in the original programme
we unanimously agreed to let him accom-
pany US provided it would not interfere with
our ultimate design; and as it was arranged
that, under any circumstances, when the
ballast should fail, the boat with Its occu-
pants should be disposed of, and myself or
Mr. La Mountain should proceed with the
voyage alone.
The basket contained 350pounds Of ballast,
n barometer. wet and dry bulb thermometer,
besides quantity of wine and provisions;
and | took my place in the basket and charge
of the valve rope, and rs director of the
general plan of the voyage, by the unanim-
Gus consent Of the party engaged in tins long
devised enterprise. must say here that
Mr.. LaNountaIn took in charge a part Of
the programme that none hut a cool head
and a most accomplished ,eronaut couid oe
trusted with; and especially the night sail
ing. vt 7 20 p. NJ, We set sail from the
Washington Square Of st Louis, and our
course at starting was north of east. hen
we got up and over the Mississippi and well
under way. we saw Mr.. Brooks land in
clear place, about sunset.
At s. 30 T. NJ the shades Of the evening !
shut from our view the noble city of ST. Louis
and the father of waters. though it continued
light until after O. Mr. La Mountain hay
ing suffered from sickness on Thursday, and
was too unwell to work hard under burn
ing sun at the imitation. left much hard labor
for me at that work | submitted the whole
thing to his charge for the night, with the
to have me walked whenever
be wanted the valve worked, and he took it
with alacrity. Before | went to sleep we had
mounted to a height at which the balloon be-
came completely distended, and where we V
found the current due east Here 1t became
chilly, and Mr.. LlMountain, as we'll as all
IF us, suffered from this change of air: and 0
with ali the clothing we could put on us it
was still uncomfortable, though the thermo-
meter stood at 10, and the barometer at %,
md this was the lowest Of both the instru- 0
Hr,rf,or bo bola tba |
;rossing Of Lake Ontario.
Mr.. La Mountain proposed to take the G
over current as long as it would take us 81
,ut few points north of east. and | told "
lin to do as he deemed best, and report his IL
in the morning, After bidding II
he party in the boat good night and God
peed, coiled myself up in blankets, and o
aid down as best | could, and in few mi o o
lutes was sound asleep, and knew of nothing |
,ut repose until ll:30 p. m. IL
At this time Mr. La Mountain again 9
mounted for the upper current; being deslr-
us of making a little more casting, he hail n
d me to open the valve, as the balloon had II
,ecome too tense, and the gas was rushing u
rom the neck with a noise, but finding no
nswer from me, he suspected that | was al
,eing smothered in the gas, and he admonish- u
d Mr.. eager to mount to my car by a hi
ope provided for that purpose, and Mr.. Gag al
T found me breathing spasmodically, but a u
ood shaking and the removal of the neck of N
he balloon from my face, with plenty ofpure Ju
old air around me, soon brought me back to al
knowledge of what was going on, and ] III ID
esolyed to sleep no more during the night. u u
At midnight felt quite well, with an in 81
igorated spirit of observation and interest in I'll
ur experiment The whole dome of heaven
vas lit up with a mellow phOsphorescent y
ight, the stars shOne with a crys alne brilli- III
ncy, and the milkey way Hooked like an nj
Illuminated stratum of cumulus clouds. or
Whenever we crossed water the heaven lit 81
ONE was visible below by reflection as a al
owe. So remarkable was this phosphorescent W, W
ght of the atmosphere that the balloon Ill
ooked translucent, & looked like light shin al
ng through oiled paper. Wecould also tell Ill
rairie from forest, and by keeping the eye ne ne
Or a moment downward we could see the { u
Dads, fences, fields, and even houses quite W
stinctly at any elevation not over a mile, vi VI
nd even at the greatest elevation we could VI Il
scern prairie froom woodland, and from ol
yater. W
Whenever we halloed it was followed by Id
istinct echo, and even this served as differ a'
ntial index to height We always found ai
esponse in numerous bow-wow-wows, and !"
hese too were always indicative ofthe full ~
less and sparseness of the habitations below, I'll
S we could hear them for many miles around w
is. MIR. La Mountain remarked that nobody p
iyed in that country but dogs, or else the or
'eople barked like dogs, he having got a d
title out of humor, because nobody would ~
ell HIM in what State we were sailing, and w
lie gave up the inquiry with the remark u
hat it must be over some other country than IN
America, as we had been moving along at :
apid pace. 90
At 3 A. NJ. Saturday we came to gener- III
j conclusion that we were somewhere over III
he State of Indiana or Ohio. At A. NJ. NJ
ye passed city but could not make it out, eo
,ut at A. NJ we discovered Lake Erie =.
head of US, and then concluded that the "
tv we left but a little south of our track ~