Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-07-17

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| -. -
PeritOus Balloon Voyage across Lake
Michigan.
On the 4th of July, Professor Steiner
made his eighty-ninth balloon ascension
from Milwaukee; his trip was rather a
PerIlous one, and since his return, he gives
a full account ofhis voyage:r
He left Milwaukee at 4:4O p. NJ, on the
4th inst. The wind Mt the time was west
"a north. His balloon had an ASCENDING
power of 900 pounds, and i'll ten minutes
the Professor had reached an elevation of
1900 feet, going almost due east at the
rapid rate of forty-6ve miles per hour
| The view at this time was magnificent
Inc lake was spread out beneath him, and
the city of Milwaukee was plainly visible,
while the country back could be seen
ulmly stretching away in the distance
lie describes the sight rs grand and beau
! tiiul. In forty minutes from the time he
had cut loose from the eartL he attained
an altitude of twelve thousand feet, or
more than two miles in height He was
then about the center of the lake Here
he lost sight of Milwaukee, which had
been all the while growing less easily dis
| tlnGuIshabic, and this also is about the
time that he was last seen by the spcctn-
tors here i'll the city. About this time.
too, he was surrounded by thunder
! storm, and rnvclopcd in the clouds. His
balloon whiried around rapidly, and the
lightning played around him, while the
! thunder was terrific. Prof. S. informs us
that the scene was at once grand and
terrible. He had passed the steamer De-
| troit about twenty-five miles from land,
and was seen from the deck of the vessel
by Capt. Mcbride, rs he passed into the
cloud
With the repeated flashes of lightning
and heavy clnrs of thunder, rain began to
fall fast. His balloon was soon saturated,
and n TIE I9 a." of Gal'i 10 it's mouth fell upon
! him in streams, so that he WAS completely
wet through; added to this the tempera-
ture of the atmosphere became very cold,
and altogether he was decidedly unc0m-
| Portable. The rain increased tue weight
of his balloon so mnch that it began TO
sink very rapidly. The professor thinks
the weight OF his balloon must have been
increased, by moisture, at least two hun
dred pounds, and upon its rapid descent
he was compelled to throw out all the
ballast he had on board, in order to keep
| the balloon from going into the wNter.-
| Thus iightCned the ship again rose. In
thirty minutes hc had got clear Of the
storm, and the sun shOne out bright and
clear, the warm rays OF which striking the
balloon made her ascend very rapidly uu-
! til lie again attained good elevation.
lie saw y number Of vessels plOwing their
way through the water in different dircc-
tions, ALL however, looking very diminu-
! tive.
4 little after six o'clock, when we had
+. been about two hours III the air he Gu
countcred another violent thunder storm,
the atmosphere being very cold and the
thermometer standing at about 35 degrees.
The teeth of the professor chattcred like II
pair of cnstnctts in consequence of this
sudden change in the temperature, and the
rain falling heavily he was again made
dripping wet, while his balloon again
commenced rapidly to sink, from its n-
creased weight by water. He now gave
up all hope of reaching the shore before
his balloon would strike the surface, but
he still continued to exert himself to the
utmost and did all in his power to keep
her aflOat Everything was Immediately
cast overboard-grappling irons, and even
his ovcrcoat, but all was of no avail
Down she came into the water, but not un-
til the storm had passed so that he was
enabled to determine where he was. He
found himself some ten miles from the
month of the Kalamazoo river. The at
mosphere had by this time become almost
calm. At seven o'clock and five minutes
he struck the waters of Lake Michigan
nine miles from shore, bnt still going to-
wards the shore at-the very slow rate of
two or three miles per hour. This prog
| CnU 10 ST nt n
of time, as the wind suddenly hauled
around to the east and drove him further
out to sea again.
~ knew" says Professor S., 'that if
could by any means reach an elevation of
5000 feet, could again get the great
eastern current, but as everything had
been thrown overheard, l had nothing to
cast loose by means of which to Tighten
my balloon. l ut once got into tue rig
gng of my balloon, and cut away the cur
The balloon Immediately began to rise
very rapidly. Thus cliuging to the rig
gng, l made the second ascension, and in
three minutes had attained tue altitude,
and struck the eastern current, and in ff-
teen minutes moro was on the beach
now pnllcd the valve rope and made q
rapid descent, but was caught by the un-
der current, and taken out into the water
about ten feet. With the aid of q few fish,
crmen, however, l secured my balloon un-
injured, and had it conveyed to the light
house. where was kindly received by Mr.
Nichols, the light house keeper, with whom
remained until the morning of the 9Th
inst, when l chartered tug to take me tc
Grand Haven. Then | secured passage
to this city on the steamship Milwaukee
and arrived here with the balloon and cal
on the night of Friday last. none the worse
bodily, for my trip. The car drifted ashore
about twelve miles north of Kalamazoo
river, on the morning Of the 9th, but wher
/ secured it it had been rifled of all it!