The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-07-07


due east. Here it became chilly, and Mr.. La Noun
tain as well as all of us, suffered from the change
of air; and with all the clothing could put
it was still uncomfortable, II ough the thermometer
stood at AZ and the barometer at %, and this was
the lowest of both the instruments during the whole
voyage, except the crossing of Lake Ontario
Mr.. La Mountain proposed to take the lower cur
rent as long as it would take us but a few points
north of east, and told him to do as he deemed
best, and report his reckoning in the morning.
After bidding the party in the boat good night
and God speed, coiled myself up in blankets, and
| laid down best could, and in few moments
was sound asleep, and knew of nothing but repose
until IL 80 p. NJ. .. ...H 81 49,.
At this time Mr.. La Mountain again mounted for
the uppercurrent; being DESTROYS of making little
more casting he hailed me to open the valve as
! the ballosn had become so tense and the gas was
rushing from the neck with noise, bat finding no
answer from me, he suspectng that | was being
smothered in the gas, and he admonished Mr.. eager
| to mount to nv car by a rope provided for that
purpose. and Mr.. eager found me breathing spas
medically, but good shaking and the removal of
the neck of the balloon from my face, with pl nty
| OF pure cold air around me, soon brought me back
| TO knowledge of what was going on, and | re-
solved to sleep more during the night.
At midnight felt quite we'll, with an invigorated
spirit OF observation and inter est in experiment
| The whole dome of heaven was lit up with mel
low phOsphorescent light, the stars shown with
| CRYSTALLINE brilliancy, and the milky way looked
like an Illuminated stratum of cumulus Clouds
| whenever we crossed water the heaven-like dome
markable was this phosphorescent light of the at
mosphcre that the balloon looked translucent and
looked like light shining through oiled paper. We
could also tell prairie from forest and by keeping
the eye for a moment downward could the
roads, fences fields, and houses quite distinct
y at any elevation not over mile, and even at the
greatest elevation we could discern prairie from
woodland, and from water. .--. ....
Whenever we halloed it was followed BY a dis
tinct echo, and even this served as difierental
ideH to height. We always found response in nu-
merous bow-wow-wOws, and these, too, were al
ways indicative of the fulness and sparseness of the
| habitatiOns below, could hear them for many
| miles around us. MI. La Mountain remarked that
nobody lived in that country but dogs. or else the
people barked ike dogs, he having got little out
| OF humor, because nobody would tell him in what
State we were sailing. and he gave up the inquiry
| with the remark that it must be other
country than America, as we had been moving along
| at Il rapid pace.
At A. NJ. Saturday, we came to general con-
| clusion that we were somewhere over the State of
! Indiana or Ohio. AT A. NJ, we passed CITY, but
| could not make it out, but at A. NJ. we discover
ed Lake Erie ahead of us, and then concluded that
the city LETT little south of our track must have
| been Fort Wayne. At A. NJ, we passed Toledo
and about an hour afterward We lowered on the
margin OF the lake little north of Sandusky. AT
! ter few moments consultation, and review of
! our ballast, determined to risk the length of
Lake Erie and to test the notion that balloons can
| not be kept up long over water, because of some
| peculiar affinity of the two-a notion that never
| had any belief with me- just we merged upon
the lake, little steam screw that was propelling
| up river or bay headed for our track, and some
one aboard of her very quantity cried aloud to us
THAT is the Lake ahead of you" Mr.. La Noun
tam cried back, "ls it Lake Erie ?" and the answer
was, ''l es, it is and you had better look ont -
Our good FRIEND the propeller finding that we dis
carded his kindness, rounded off again, sounded us
goodbye with his steam whistle, and went his
way up the river.
Here we mounted up until the balloon got full.
ana the barometer fell to 49, in order to make alone
near the southern shore of the lake, but at Mr. La
Mountain suggestion, that could make the CITY
OF buffalo by sailing but few hundred feet above
the surface OF the water, opened the valve until
we gradually sank to within 500 feet of the water
Here we found gentle gale of about a speed of a
mile per minute, and resolved to float on it unit
we should heaVe IN sight OF Buffalo, and then rise
and sail over it. This was most interesting part
OF our voyage. We overlook seven steamboats,
passed mutual saluta tions, and would soon leave
them Hitting on the horizon in our rear One of
.9ese lonely travellers remarked as We passed him.
"f GU are going it like thunder" At 1920 A. NJ.
we were skirtng along the Canada shore and passed
near the mouth of the Welland Canal and soon he
gan to mount for our eastcrly current so as to
take Buffalo IN our track but circed up into it
between Buffalo and Niagara Falls crossing Grand
Island, leaving Buffalo to the right and Lockport to
the left OF us in our onward course.
Finding ourselves in the State of New York, but
too far north to make the City of New York, it was
agreed that we would make a landing near Roches-
ter, detach the boat, leave out Mr.. eager and Mr.
Hyde, and Mr.. La Mountain and myself pursue the
voyage to point at Boston Portland. Accord
lngly we descended gradually, but before we got
within thousand feet of the earth We found am0st
terrific gale sweeping along below The woods
roared like host of Niagaras, the surface of the
earth was filled with clouds Of dust, and told nv
friends certain destruction awaited us if we should
touch the earth in that tornado. The huge cat
lantic was making terrific sweep earthward; al
ready were we near the tops of the trees of tall
forest and l cried out somewhat excitedly, ''for
n a haavn oarlo
your hands on La Mountain" and in another mo-
ment he responded sail right standing on the side
of the boat with shaft and wheels, intended for
the working OF the tan wheels, and ready to heave
1t over should it become necessary
Mr.. Hyde looked up to my ear, and solemnIy
said, "This is an exciting time, Professor. What
shall we do ?" ITrnst to Providence and all our
Lake Ontario and how terribly it was foaming
moaning and bowling. ] said ola Mountain |
have $50 pounds Of ballast in my car yet, and
heavy valise, an Express bag, (sent to the T.. s.
Express Company's Office in Broadway New
York, and lot of provisions
well, if that won't do, will cut up the boat
for ballast, AID we can keep above water until we
reach the opposite Shore" which near hun-
bred miles off in the direction we were then going
Here handed my ballast down to La Mountain,
rapidly mounting above the terrific
gale; believing that by that course we should at
least get out of its main track.
Everything now indicated that we should perish
in the water the land; and our only salvation
was to keep afoat until we got out of the gale if
we could. | said, ''Iou must all get into the
basket, it you want to be saved, should we ever
reach the land. And truly tell you that the perils
of the land terrible than those of the
water, with our machines, and it would be easier to
meet death by drowning than to have our bodies
mangled by dashing against rocks and trees" By
this time Mr.. eager and Mr.. Hyde had clambered
into the basket with me. Mr.. Hyde said very cool
ly, 81 am prepared to die, but would rather die
on land than in the water" | said, ''What do
you say, Mr. Gager?1 He replied, 81 would rather
meet it on land; but do you think best Mr. La
Mountain was busily engaged collecting what he
could for ballast. Everything was now valuable
to US that had weight. Our carpet-bags, our in
sirumehts' the Express Dag, our provisions, were
already to go, and go they did, one after another
until we were reduced to the Express bag-tbat
| went overheard last.
We now deserted the shore, some forty miles
ahead, peerlng between s0mbre bank of clouds
| and the water-hQrizon, but we were swoopng at n
| fearful rate upon the turbulent water and in an
other moment, crash went the boat upon the water
! sdewlse, staving in two of the panks, and giving
our whole craft two fearful jerks by two succeeding
| waves La Mountain stuck to the boat like a hero
put lost his hat, and got dash of the waves. but
| soon recovered and threw over the Express bap
and the last remaining ballast, and cried out "Be
easy, gentlemen, l ii have her aioat once more"
! In announcer moment we were up few hundred feet
again, and the steamer-propeller Young America
was lacking across our track. l now proposed to
swamp the boat and balloon in the lake, and trust
| w ooinS PioNeu up ny tle Dung America, but the
desire was that should make the shore and try
the land, and as crossed the bow of the steamer
they gave us hearty hurrah. La Mountain had
now cut out of the boat all he could, and we were
within fifteen miles of the shore, the gale still
! raging below. La Mountain might have remained
IN the boat below, and jumped out at the first
touching the earth, and | saw no mpropriety in
that, as then we might have had another hour
or two to wait the lulling of the gale; but he
| said he would share our fate, and he also clam
bered 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
perils were at hand, but still had blind hope that
we would be saved. ordered two men upon the
valve rope, and we struck within hundred Yards
OF the water, among scattered trees, our hook
which was OF inch and quarter iron, breaking like
pipe stem at the first catch of it in tree and we
hurting through the tree tops at fearful rate
| After dashing along this way for nearly a mile,
crashing and breaking down trees, we were dashed
most fearfuly into the boughs of tall elm so that
the basket swung under and up through the crotch
OF the limb, and while the boat had caught in some
OF the other branches and this brought us to little
but in another moment the ATLANTIC puffed up
| her huge proportions, and at one swoop away went
| the limb, basket and boat into the air a hundred
! feet, and @as afraid some of the crew were i'm
| paled upon the scrags. This limb, about inches
thick at the butt and full of branches not weighing
less than six or eight hundred pounds proved too
| much for the atlantic" and it brought her sud
denly down upon the top of a very tall tree and
collapsed her. 1t was fearful plunge but il left