The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-07-07
The Great Balloon Voyage
MIR. GAGEa's ACCOUNT OF THH TRIP.

The Great Balloon Voyage.
MR.. GAGEa's ACCOUNT OF THH TRIP.
sS% the Troy }" Tin Times July balloon from
s. louis toward the ooas-the progress Of which as
Cleveland briefly announced In dsspatches
Of Saturday the deepest the
the part OF citizens. Many disp 10
treat the whole matte. as humbug but our investisa
ton of the subject fully prepared us marvel in
the art OF balooning and not surprised when at
early hour on Sunday morning Mr. eager called upon
and informed US that the balloon had landed at Hen
derson Jefferson county, shortly after O'Clock ON the
previous afternoon We make room to-day only for
brief account Of the voyage as given US By him. remark
balloon promised before starting for the West 10 cali
upon possible after his arrival In this Soc
ton and give the first official account OF the trip
The voyage which had been for the 23d Of
June, delayed to the lat Of July by the misunder
standing between La Mountain and WISE with which our
Wise should accompany him upon the urgent solicitation
Of friends whose advice he would have done well not :,
heed The imitation was accomplished soon after six
O'CLOCK Friday afternoon. Mr. Brooks, the lessee Of
St Louis Museum having volunteered to escort the
OF them with his small Balloon Comet The Atlantic was
unlashed and sailed into the upper deep about ten mi
nutes after seven Il bad been provided with = wicker
tho eboat By means OF coucentrc hoop, was intended
to guard against the contingency Of danger in landing,
tso the boat contained six huudssd pounds Of ballast
bucket OF water, bucket Of lemonade, bread, wine,
poultry cake and various delcaces furnished by ladies'
ST. Louis Ia Mountain took charge Of the balloon,
Mr. Wise OF the scientific log Mr. eager OF the compass,
basket with his Inducements and the three others
n the boat
The of the balloon starting to the north
distance of about fifteen miles from st. Louis
when It took due east. At this time Mr. Brooks
desceaced with his Comet The statement that he had
been from Fort Wayne was therefore, clearly an
The observers must have seen reflection upon
the clouds Of the large balloon.
AT $50 p. NJ. MIR. Vice went to sleep, and Left the
management Of the ship alone to Mr. LaMouutain until
III 80 About that tins the balloon had assembled to
great altitude, aud dschsrgng gas rapidly from
throttle that II became necessary 70 descend. Mr.
IaMountan called 70 Vice open the valve, but there
was no answer He asked him IL he deai but there
response. He then urged Mr. eager TO ascend
by the ropes what the matter. This the
ter promptly did He found Wise sitting with his head
dropped up0n breast, with the pipe from which
wss disehsIsns treey, directly under him De was en-
died. beyond doubt in less than five minutes Mr. eager
shook him roughly, aud drew him into the pure air,
where he soon recovered his senses.
The principal feature which the voyagers observed iu
ring the night the prevalence about above and
them, Of remarkable phosphorescent light, which
seemed to invest everything and give peculiar appear
ance II made the balloon look like globe OF fire
through oed paper, Wise described 1t. II easy
to tell the woods the open country by the belts or
black lines whoh they indicatsd-and on crossing body
seemed though the voyagers were passing
between Two sheets Of lanie of mellow color, which
lighted them up and gave to their couneaances, and 10
the objects Immediately surrounding them, PECULIAR hue
This phenomenon rs agreeable, those
il as It WIS remarkable. .a .sA $50 81 'iaf
The country over which the balloon passed during the
night very barren and thply settled. There
few groups clusters Of light indicate villages ham
lets and even the occasionef gmer OF secluded farm
houses rarely seen. La Mountain was continually
calling out to those below to ASCERTAIN what region of
tnsy o eI, me on pom a1e
81 howl OF wolves I-ritscd byrepeated failures he gave
up his Efforts and told his companions that che guessed
they had passed out the world and gone 10 Cana
da" Reference 10 the compass, however, established
the opinion that they were sking the northern portion
OF the State Of Indiana.
At four O'Clock in the morning. the balloon passed over
a city which lone on board knew-but the conclusion,
which proves to have been correct was that Fort
Wayne. At A. ~ Lake Erie became visible in the far
distance. At six the party passed Toledo AT five min.
utes to seven the Lake was struck sandusky Mr.
heard Of achievement. in balloonne: his great object
being to determine the effect Of water upon the gas,
Of the Atlantic impossiblity BE informed his com
panons that they did not desire to go with him,
he would 1ss them out but they unanimously decided 70
hundred feet OF tho in order to make as nearly
d os ss ' d this fss Hs ne
was the answer, land you had better look out" Dsre
garding the Injunction the intrepid voyagers went on
and received parting salute from the whistle Of the
propeller Seven steamboats, were passed and salued
during the passage OF the Lake and the result proved that
upon balloon. The descent the water, seen from
Fairpor directed by Mr. La Mountain, with the
lec as we nave SAID Of striking near Buffalo On cross
Ing however the balloon crossed Grand Island between
Buffalo and Lockport.
then decded-the repeated accents and descents
having diminished the supply OF both gas and baast-to
steer as nearly possible for Rochester land Mr. eager
and Mr. hyde at that point and leave the professional
balloonisis to continue their trip to the seaboard which
reach before four O'Clock. Accordingly, at O'Clock,
Lake Ontario appearing in the distance gradual descent
within about Thousand feet of the earth and three or
our miles from Rochester when the voyagers found that
ney were caught torn ado, which was blowing them
through the air at that terrdcally rapid rate.
The situation Of the baloons.s well calcu-
lated to freeze ther blood with horror To ascend
m
ballast than could have been dispensed with to descend
would be dea,h-all board would be dashed to atoms
on striking the ground. Mr. Wise turned pale and said
"Gentleen, certain destruction evidently awaits U.s. II
we strike the earth in this tornado all dead men,"
AT this moment the balloon was swept at dreadful rate
over the lake Mr.. eager says that in this emergency
Mr.. La Mountain proved himself hero to be trusted
muscles his voice clear and distinct and he could
not have been cool he stood upon dry land In
deed he was the only one Of the four entirely se pos
sessed
At 100 Rochester was left about mile abreast. L.
Mountain stood clone in the boat the other three
cpgpg 10 the basket above Wise Grief excitedly to
La Mountain For Gods sake heave overheard anything
you can lay your fingers on, La Mountain ~ La Noun
tain who was standing near the side of the boat with
popeler fan in his hand ready to throw out at the critical
moment cried out Keep cool gentlemen it's all right"
Mr. hyde looked up at Wae, ana said soemnly This is
Coo and faculties the answer In q few Sc
conds the balloon down with fell swoop upon
yase, an express mail bag and the remaining provisions
The waters were surgng and boiling swfuly the
running from Twelve TO fifteen feet hgh and moaning
If for the impending doom of the Bronauts. The shock
was dreadful 1t stove in side of the boat and
jerked La Mountain 40 that his hat fell into the water
T." For Gods sake John, are you out?" shouted Wise
over the basket Don't trouble yourselves about me,
gentlemen" was the response; I'm all right, and
am going to take you across safe yeti And went
the propeller fan, lifting the balloon few feet above the
water. The voyagers now began to question how they
would be killed Wise said he was resigned; eager was
willing to but for his poor WIFE Hyde felt prepared but
would rather die on land than water LaMountan insisted
that nobody going to be killed, he would laud
all safe Amoment after the propeller Young America
egnaed and askedto lie but before she could do
was mile astern wise DOW proposed to descend swamp
the boat and trust to the chance Of being picked This la
Mountain peremp,ory refused tn do declaring that
movement would be certain death for all By tearing
the planks from the bottom Of the boat and throwing Off
his heavest clothing, he kept the balloon aoa until
Abou. 80, the shore struck, in piece OF woods
the town Of Henderson Instantly the anchor
out II first caught tree inch in diameter but broke