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

peller, finding we discarded his kindness
rounded off again, sounded us Il good by
with his steam whistle and went his way u
the river.
Here we mounted up until the balloon 20
full, and the barometer fell to %, in orde
to make along near the southern shore OF
lake, but at Mr. LaMountain's suggestion
that we could MAKE the city Of Buffalo by
sailing but It few hundred eataboye the sur
face Of she water, | op1ned the valve unit
we gradually sunk to Within 500 feet of the
water Here we found Il gentle gale o.
about speed of a mile per mintue, and we
resolved to float on until we should hea0e in
sight of Buffalo and then rise and sail ovel
It, This was a most interesting part OF oul
voyage We overlook steamboats,, passed
mutual salutations, and would soon leave
them fitting on the horizon III our rear.
I One of these lonely travellers remarked as
we passed him, ''yOu are going 1t like thun-
! der - At % minutes past 10 A. NJ. we
were skirting along the Canada shore and
pissed near the mouth Of the Welland canal
and soon ho@an to mC'nt for Our more east
rii.. .c.u.tr splash e.As .,il...1 "a uur
tracts. uuj we eIclcd up into Ii oetH cen
Bufli, and Niagara Falls crossing Grand
Island, ie.yil. buHIio to tire right ani
LJckport t. the lett Of US In our onward
course. Finding ourselves in the State of
New York, but 100 far north to maze the
city of New York, git was agreed that ~
should make a landin near Rochester, de
tach the boat, leave out M. eager and Mr.
HYDE. and Mr. LaMountain and myself pur-
sue the voyage to a point at Boston or Port
land. Accordingly we descended gradually,
bat before we got within Il thousand feet of
the earth we found a most terrific gale sweep
ing along below. The woods roared like a
host Of Niagaras, the surface of the earth
was filed with clouds of dust, and ! told my
fri ud- certain destruction awaited MS il we
s-rlit ..uel ti" "tEtH t. 'n. ta' 5.t The
ut4c Atlantic u .... lfic
-vcop eartrward al ea1y ...i- $50 Iselr the
tops of ihe trees ot % ulI forrest. nd I cried
uui somewhat excitedly 'ior Grd's ~tke
heaye overheard anything yon can iIy 'ur
hands on, LaNountaln, and in another mo-
ment he responded ''ail right, st4udinC On
the side OF the boat with Il shaft and wheels,
intended for the working Of the fan wheels,
and ready to heavc it over should it become
necessary.
Mr. Hyde looked up to my car, and very
SAID This is an exciting time,
Professor. " Vat shall we DO ?''
% Trust G, Providence and all our ener-
gieS said / We were fast running on to
Lake Ontario, and o. how terribly it was
foaming, moaning and bowling. | said
- La Mountain, lave $50 pounds OF ballast |
in my car yet, a heavy yalise, an Express bag |
(sent to the l. ). Express Compary's Office |
in Broadway, New York;, and a lot Of pro- |
visions.
Well, if that won do, viii cutup the
boat for ballast, and we can keep above Wa
ter until we reach the opposite shore. = which
was near a hundred miles of in the direction
we we then going
Here handed my ballast down to LlNloun-
tain as we were rapidly mounting above The
errifc gale, believing that by that cour," We
hould at least get out of Its main track
s'e'H H 'i,." sIef t'tiit Gr On Ire land and our
,nly salvation WAS to keep afoat until we got
,ut Of the gale, if we could. | said " You
must al, get into the basket if YOU want to
,e saved. should we ever reach the land. And
truly tell you that the perils Of the land
re even more terrible than those Of the water,
With our machines and it would be easier to
aees death by drowning than to have our
Jdies mJnglcd by dashIng against rocks and
rees. BY this time Mr.. eager and Mr..
lyde had clambered into the basket with me.
Mr.. Hyde said very coolly 80 | am prepared
o die. but rather die on land than in the
rater.
| said, 81 What do YOU say. Mr. Gager}'
He replied, 81 would rather meet it on
ind but Go as YOU think best
Mr. LaAI3untain was bu,ily engaged IN
ollecting what he could ior ballast. Every |
ling was now valuable t. us that had '
eight. Oar carpet-bags our instruments,
ne Express Bag, our provisions. were all /
eady to go-and 20 they did, one after an
ther, until we were reduced to the Express
went overheard last.
We now deserted the shore, some forty
liles ahead peering between q somber bank
clouds and the water horizon. but we L
ere swooping at fearful rate upon the 7
lrbulent water, and in another moment. I
ash went the boat upon the water sidewise,
aving in two Of the planks, and giving our 3:
hole craft two fearful Jerks by two succeed
g waves. La Mountain stuck u tae boat
ke a hero, but lost his hat, and got dash a
the waves, but soon recovered and threw d
-er the Express bag and the last remaining
lllast, and cried out, BE easy, gentlemen, "
II have her ah0at once more. In another 2
oment we were ur 4 few hundred feet a
lin, and the steamer propeller Young
merica' was tacklng across our track |
Nv proposed to swamp the boat and balloon Il
the Lake, and trust to being picked up by P
e Young America, but the desire was that CT
c should make the shore and try the land u
ID as we crossed the bow of the steamer,
ey gave us hearty hurrah. La Mountain J.
I'd now cut out of the boat ali be could. o.
I'd we were within fifteen miles of the shore a
e gale still raging below. La Mountain
light have remained in the boat below, and b,
mped out at the first touching the earth, c,
ID saw no implopriety in that, as then we c,
light have had another hour or two to wait
e lulling of the gale, but he said he would -
are our fate, and he also clambered into "
c basket, just as we were reaching the land.
| saw by the swaying to and fro of the lOf IN
trees into which we must inevitably dash. ht
at our worst perils were at hand, butI still 90
ID blind hope that we would be saved. | di
dered two men upon the valve rope, and we \.
'uck within hundred yards of the water,
lOng some scattered trees, our hook, which
rs an inch and a quarter iron, breaking OF
,e pipe stem at the first catch in tree th
d we hurting through the tree tops at ter
ic rate Alter dashing along this way for ce
arly mile, cShing and breaking down or
,es, we were dashed most fearfully into the -.
ughs of tall elm so that the basket swung I"
der and up through the crotch Of ca
e limb while the boat had caught in some t'
the outer branches, and this brought us til
little, but in another moment the CAT ic
ntic' pulled up her huge proportions, and sh
one swoop away went the limb, basket tb
d boat into the air a hundred feet, and | Ia
is afraid some of the crew were impaled l..
'on the scrags. This limb, about s inches -
lex at the butt and full of branches, mot Ga
'ighing less than e or hundred pounds,
owed too much for the ''Atlantlc, and II ab
ought her suddenly down upon the top of 70
very tall tree and collapsed her. 1t was of
irtul plunge, but it lett US dangling be- HI
cen heaven and earth, in the most sorrow -,
looking plight of machinery. that can be "
agined. WI
zone of US were seriously injured, the many oh
rds, the strong hoops made of wood and W,
IN, and the close wicker-work basket saw pe