The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1859-07-11
! he Balloon Voyage from Mis-
sour to New York.
MARROW ESCAPE an THE AERO
NAUTE.


romance and dangers of IN aerial voyage:
Although it was intended to have started
on this voyage on the 23d Of June, we wer,
delayed in our preparations until the lst Of
July. BY & O'Clock p. IN. the air ship CAT.
lantic' was duly inflated, and while we wert
putting her in trim with ballast and provis
ions, Mr.. Brooks, lessee OF the st. Louis Mu-
scum, who had kindly volunteered to escort
us over the Mississippi in his balloon .sCom-
ETY. got ready for the occasion, and upon a
signal agreed, assembled from the ground
At 100 .. m. the "Atlantic" was ready to
sail. Messrs. LaMountain and eager, think
ing some difficulty might arise from the start
if they should attach the fore wheels to the
shafts and wheel gearing, determined to omit
that until we should be fairly under way next
morning. Having had much experience in
hard winds, and the perils Of landing bal
| loon under them, we had constructed at St.
Louis, good wicker work car (which, with
good and strong concentric hoop, are life
preservers in these perils,) which was sus
| pended between the boat and balloon, and
about eight feet above the former and within
| six feet of the hoop, so that the neck of the
| balloon hung in the basket-car whenever the
balloon was fully distended.
Tho boat contained GOO pounds of ballast,
e.
| with an abundance of bread and wine, poul.
try and sand witches, besides delicacies, too
| numerous to enumerate, furnished by kind
friends. Mr.. LaMountain took command If
the boat and ballast, and took his place on
one end MIR. eager took the other end, and
took charge of the charts and compass Mr.
Hyde, local editor OF the st. Louis Republi-
can, took his seat in the middle, with note.
book and pencil, as historian. Although Mr..
Hyde was not in the original programme, we
unanimously agreed to let him accompany us
provided it would not interfere with our ulti-
mate design; and as il was arranged that.
under any circumstances, when the ballast
should fail, the boat with it's contents should
be disposed of. and myself or Mr.. LaMoun-
tain should proceed the voyage alone.
The basket contained $50 pounds of bal
last, barometer, wet and dry bulb, thermom-
eter, besides a quantity Of wine and provis-
ions and took my place in the basket and
charge of the valve rope, and, as director of
the general plan OF the voyage, by the unan-
imous consent of the party, engaged in this
long devised enterprise.
must saw here Mr.. LaMountain took in
charge part of the programme, tina, none
but cool head and n most accumulated
aronans could be trusted with; and e. peclal-
II the night sailing. AT 10 =. m. we set
saii from the Washington Square of ST. Lou
il, and our course of starting was north Of
EAST. When we got up and over the Mssis-
sirpi and well under way, We saw Mr.. Brooks
tand in clear place, about sunset.
AT $50 p. m. the shades of the evening
shut from orr view the noble eitv Of ST. Lou
il and the father of waters, though it con-
,inued light unit after Q. Mr.. LaMoun,ain
having suffered from sickness on Thursday.
and was TOO unwel 20 work hard under q
burning sun mt the imitation, left much hard
labor for me at that work. submitted the
whole thing to his charge for the night, with
the understanding to have me walked when
ever he wanted the valve worked, and he took
ii with alacrity. Before went to sleep we
had mounted 10 n height ut which the bal
loon became completely distended, and where
We found the current due east. Here i, be-
came chilly, and Mr.. LaMountain, IA yell AS
all of US, suffered from this change Of air
aud With all the clothing we could put on Us
it was still uncomf ortable, though the Their
mometer stood at AZ, and the barometer at
p, and this was the lowest Of both the in
struments during the whole voyage, except
the crossing Of Lake Ontario.
Mr.. La Mountain proposed to take the low
er current as long as it would take us but
few points north Of east, and | told him TO do
rs he deemed best. and report his reckoning
in the morning. After bidding the party 10
the boat good night and God speed, coiled
myself up in blankets, and laid down az beat
| could, and in o few mnutes was sound
asleep, and knew Of nothing but repose until
ll.30 .. IN.
AT this time Mr.. La Mountain again mount
ed for the upper current; being DESTROYS of
| making little more casting, he hailed me to
| open the valve, as the balloon had become so
| tense, and the gao v az rushing from the neck
| with noise. but finding no answer from me-
| he suspected that Was being smothered i'm
| the gas, and he admonishad Mr. eager to
moant 70 my car bs rope provided for that
purpose, and Mr. eager found me breathing
/ -ra-modcaiis, but good shaking, and the
| removal If The meek Of the balloon from N.
face, with plenty of pure cold air around me.
soon brought me back t. a knowledge OF
shat was going on, and resolved 10 sleep o
| more during the night
Ar midnight felt quite we'll, with an ia.
vigorated spirit Of observation and interest in
our experiment. The whole dome of heaven
was lit up with mellow phosphorescent light,
the stars shone with a crystalline hrilliancy,
and the milky way looked like an illuminated
/ stratum Oh 0ImuIus cIUuIs. w nenever Wp
crossed water the heaven. lit dome was as Wis
IDLE below by reflection as above SO re-
markable was this phosphoreseent light OF
the atmosphere that the balloon locke trans
lucent, and looked like light shining throug h
oiled paper. We could also tell prairie from
forest, and by keeping the eye for moment
downward be could see the roads, fences.
| fields, and even houses quite distinctly at any
elevation not over mile, and even Mt the
/ greatest elevation could discern pralrie
from woodland, and from water.
Whenever We haloed it was followed by a
distinct echo, and even this served as differ
entail index to height. We always found a
response IN numerous bow WOW vows, and
these, too, were always indicative OF the full
pess and sparseness Of the habitations below,