Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1859-07-15

long over water, because OF )ne peculiar d
finity Of the two, notion tba never had al
belief with me. Just as we mrgcd upon ii
e lake, little steam scow that was propc!ii
III up river or bay, headed for cur tra ek, AT
some one aboard Of her very quantity erie
N aloud to US = That is the lake ahead OF you
. Mr. La Mountain cried back, " Is it Lab
v Erie? and the answer was. " Yes, it : an
's yea had better look cut Our euod frient
II the propeller, finding we discarded lis kjnc
$, ness rounded OF again, sounded US a good by
: with his steam whistle, and went his way Il
Il the river.
/ Here We mounted up uuiI tie balloon go
Il full, and the barometer fell to %, in order {
make along near the setlthern shore Of th
lake. Jnt at iii: Il; Mountain suggestion th,
c we could make the city Of Buffalo By saiIin;
: but few hundred feet above the surface c
: the water, opened the valve until we grad
Y TALLY sank to within 800 feet of the wafer
Here we found gentle gale Of about spee(
OF mile per minute and we resolved to aoa
on until we should have in sight Buffalo anC
/, then rise and sail over it. This was most
Interesting part Of our voyage. We overlook
seven steamboats,, passed mutual sa!utations
: and would soon leave them 1itting on the hor
zon in our rear One of these lonely a3e!eis
remarked, as we passed, Y GU are going ii
: like thunder ="
On Saturday at 1920 A. VI. W. were skirt
ing along the Canada shore, and passed nea'
the mouth Of Welland canal, ard soon began tc
mount for our most casteriy current, so as tc
take Buffalo in our track, but we crcled up IN
to it between Buffalo and Niagara Falls, cross
ing Grand Island leaving Buffalo to the right
and Lnckport to the left Of Us. In our onward
course, finding ourselves in the State Of New
y ork, but too far y NoIth to make the city ol
New York it was agreed that we Should make
a landing near Rochester, detaeh the boat
leave out Mr.. Eager and Mr. Hyde and ldr
La Mountain and myself pursue the voyage to
a point i'll Boston or Portland
Accordingly we descended gradually, bat be-
fore we got to within thousand feet of the
earth, = c found a most terrible gale sweeping
along below. The surface Of the earth was
filed with clouds Of dust, and | told my friends
certain destruction awaited us, if we should
touch the earth in that tornado. The huge 4 t
lantic was making terrible sweep earthward
Already we were near the tops of trees of Il
tai forest and I cried out somewhat eXcitedy
lGl N'd . rant itEdHC Vhtl DtdIu ANY LJUS You
can lay your hands on La Mountain and in an
otter moment he responded all right, standing
on Ia, side Of the boat with shaft and wheels
intended fer the working of the fan wheels, and
ready TO heaec it should it be necessary.
/ Mr. Hyde looked up to my car and very col
cmnlv said this is an exciting time Professor
What shall we do?" "Trust to providence
and our energies said I. We wer2 fast run
ming ON TO Lake Ontario, and oh. how terri
by it was foaming, moaning and bowling. I
said, La Mountain, have $50 pound Of bal
last in my car ytt, and heavy valice, an ex-.
press bag sent by gfc T. s. Express Company
and lot Of provisions Well. flat went do.
] viii cut up the boat for ballast, and we can
keep above water until we reach the opposite
shore, which was near hundred miles of. in
the direction we were going. Here | handed
my ballast down to la Mountai1. as we were
rapidly mounting above the terrific gale. heiicv-
ing by that course we should at least get out
of the main track. Every thing now indicated
that we should perish in the water q en- land
and our oniy salvation was to keep aflcat until
we got out of the gale if we could said ''ycl;
must all get into the basket if you want to bc
saved, should we ever reach land-and / tru'y
tell YOU, the perils of The land are even more
terrible than those Of the wafer with our ma
crimes and it " ,uld be easier to meet death by
drowning than to have our bodies rai1glcd by
Caahine against rocks and trees.
BY this time Mr. Gager and Mr. HYDE had
cambcretl into the basket with me. Air. Hyde
said. very cool!y, 4 am prepared to die. hut
would rather die on land than in tie water.
I said. What do you say, Mr.. Gagcr?" Here
Piled u would rather meet it on land, but Dc
a YOU think best" MIR. La Moufi;;t;n was
blsily engaged in collecting what he could for
ballast. Every thing was now valuable to rs
that had weight. Our carpet bags, odr irstru-
monts the express bag, our provisions. were all
ready to GO and go they did, Gre after another
until we were reduced to the express bag, that
W ut overheard last.
We deserted the shore. some forty miles a
head. paerin@ between sombrc bank of clouds
and the wafer horizon. but were sweeping
at a fearful rate upon the turbulent water ana
in another moment crash went the heat upon
the water, sidewise, staving in two Of the panka
and giving our whole craft two fearful jerks,
ltv two succeeding waves. La Mountain stuck
to the boat like hero, but lost his hat, and
got a dash of the wares. but soou recovered. and
threw over the express bng, and last the re-
manning ballast, and cried ont " BE easy gentle
IN III have her sfoat once more In an
other moment were up few hundred feet
again, and the steam propeller Dung America
was taclling across our track.
| now proposed to swamp the boat and ha.-
loon in the lake and trust to being picked "
by the Young America, but the desire was We
should make the shore and try the land and rs
Il. IL Il.
lis n hearty hurrah La Mountain had now
cut ont of the buai all he could, and we We're
within fifteen miles Of the shore the gale still
raging below La Mountain might have re-
maincd in the boat below and jumped ont a
first touching carth-and I saw 10 impropriety
in that as then We might have had another
hour or two to wait the lullnY Of the gale
hat he said he would share our fate and he al |
so clambarcd into the basket just as we were
reaching the land
saw by the swaying to and fro of the lofty !
trees into which We must inevitably dash, that !
our worst pers were at hand but | still had /
a blind hope that we would be saved. | order
ed two men on the valve rope, and we struck /
within hundred yards of the water among /
some scattered trees, our hook, which was of
inch and a quarter iron, breaking like a pipe
stem at the first catch Of it in a tree and We
hurlinc through tree tops at fearful \ratc-
After dashtng along this way for nearly mile,
crashing aud breaking down trees, We were
dashed mast fearfuly into the boughs of tai
elm 50 that the basket swung under and up
through the crotch of the limb, ana while the
baat had caught in some og the other branches
This brought us too little put in another mo
ment the Atlantic pufied up her huge proper
tions, and at one swoop oway went the limb,