The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1859-07-16

FEARFUL ENFERIgNcgS OF THE voYAGEHs.

FEARFUL ESFERIENeES OF THz voYAoEEs.
! For a time again, our flying ship wa
buayed up out Of the way Of hazard, bu
| would frequently dart downward, as thong
intent on buryinc US all. This movemen
WAS promptly checked by throwing out som,
article as ballast, and thus. CARPET sacks con
! tanning clothing, overcoats. bundles Of pa
pers, provisions. were pitched into the lake
and still We kept in almost hopeless proxIm'
! itv. Mr.. LamoGntain had said be desired .c
. take care of the boat, and advised me to eel
! into the ca. above, with Messrs. Wise and
| eager, which FASTENED to do. No soone!
had planted myself firmly in the wieke,
basket. than down. down. down with fearful
speed went the balloon toward the lake.
closed my eyes involunsarily, but was quick.
II aroused by n crash and lunge Of the car
forward. Three times were there terrible
elatter and splash. One moment more Of
life, thought |. Looking around bsheld
hat floating of, and the same instant the
balloon darted out of the water. "Poor
l.amountain," was in my heart to say, for |
thought him gone bu; cheerful "all right.
boys,' stopped me and lghsened me Of one
grief. Now came test Of Lamountain's
bravery, and nobiy did he stand it. Taking
hatchet which was handed down to him
from the car where il was swung. he began
loosening the planks making the lining Of
the boat, which he sent overheard at every
indication Of another descent. When he had
gone as far as possible this way. he un-
screwed the mats which fasten the machin.
cry. Gathering all articles of no matter
how little weight, he sent them with the rest.
The oars went over next, and at last there
was nothing in The boat. He had taken off
his coat to It, and worked till the perspira-
,ion ran from his brow like rain---ali the
while speaking hopefully, and endeavoring
to quiet our appreaensions. When there
was nothing more to be donebelow. Mr..
Lamountain drew himself up by the rope
into the car. Everything had now gone but
an overcoat and two blankets. which were
saved to be used as final resort.
How wistfully did four persons strain
their eyes that day in the direction OF shore;
aud would it never, never come in sightf-
Mr.. GaGer's face bore an expression Of min
gled sadness and solicitude: perhaps he was
thinking of a group of happy faces. all nm
conscious Of his peril, away in Bennington,
Vermont. Mr.. Lamountain seemed more
hopeful, and Professor Wise talked as
though we were certain Of getting safe over
the lake, though he warned us of danger as
soon as we should be off the water. Prof
W.'s theory was. that if the boat should sft
swamped, the balloon would still have mo-
mentum and power sufficient 10 drag US to
shore, which happily, had by this time ap
peared in the dim distance. A propeller
called" loung America" shortly afterwards
bore down upon US to come to our relief,
but we scuddcd some hundreds 0! feet be-
fore her bows, and so that hope failed.
Finally. after skimming within thirty feet
of the dark waves, for distance Of not less
than fifty miles, and perhaps more, we had
the Joy TO know that We were ont Of danger
of drowning but new peril was before US.
rrof. ise had ben quite right in his pre-.
d,cuon. The hurricane blew US Immediate
ly into dense forest which skirted the lake =,
and threatened to tear US limb from limb
Mr.. Gager had thrown out the anchor. n
heavy iron one with three hooks, each an
inch and quarter in thickness. SO rapid
was our fight that this stood out nearly
straight from the car. As the grappcI
swung against a tree Of moderate size, the
velocity of the balloon and it's terrible
strength would tear it down and fling it to
the ground. One by one tho hooks broke
of, and we were again at the mercy of the all
sweeping wind. Mr.. Lamountain and held
on the valve rope, endeavoring to discharge
the gas, but quIckI were compelled to re-
lease our grasp, and cling to the " concen
trating hoop to avoid being thrown out
1t has been before stated that the moshes
enveloping the silk of the Atlantic had an
aggregate strength Of one hundred and TWEEN
ty tons. 1t is not strange that it was some
time before these strong cords were broken.
The balloon actually went through n mile
Of forest. and, tearing down trees and break
ing branches, pursued its resistless course.
dashing our party in the willow car to and
fro against trunks and limbs. until the stout
netting had broken little by little and the
balloon itself had no longer any protection,
when striking a tall tree the silk was pune
turcd in dozen places and rent INTO ribbons.
leaving tho car suspended hy the network
some twenty feet above ground. The course
Of the balloon through the woods left - path
similar to that OF a tornado. Trees half the
size Of mans body were snapt in twain
"a though they were pipe stems, and huge
limbs were scattered like leaves. 1t is diff
cult to see how any one of the qunrtette es-
capped with bis life. 1t happened that the
landing was made within one hundred and
fifty yards Of Il settlement, and the crash
was so great that tn" people rnn to the spot
to see what had happened. Singular as it
would appear, there was only one Of the
four in iurcd ia the least--Mr. Lam0untan
receiving some slight contusions about one
Of his hips, and the remainder escaping with
out n scratch. When we got down. which
was done partly by ropes and partly by
means of broken tree. several persons were
standing around with open mouths and eyes
staring out wonder. We then learned that
we had landed on the place of Truman ..
Whitney, Sackett's IIarbOr, in the township
of Henderson, Jefferson county, New Yorx.
By Mr.. Lamountnin's watch, the time was
two O'Clock and twenty minutes. We had
been nineteen hours and forty minutes trav-
cling distance which cannot be computed
at less than nine hundred miles, and is said
to reach as much as twelve hundred.