Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1872-10-25
A Night Ride in a Balloon Over the
Wilds OF Maine and Canada.

Der 70 to 81, which had Plymouth, n. H.,
Tor Its place of beginning, and the little,
obscure settlement of Sayabec, in the
Province of Quebec, on the line of the
new Inter-colonial Railway, for its ter
minal point, must certainly be regarded
as one of the most thrilling and remark
able aerial journeys which has ever taken
place in America. In fact, few of the
balloon voyages made in France or Eng
CLAN, Of which record has been made,
equal 1t either in extent or duration OF
distance, The widest and ladst desolate
regions Of New Hampshire, Maine, and
the extreme lower portion OF the Province
OF Quebec were traveFsed, to the very
shores OF the Gulf Of st. Lawrence, the
voyage even extending out over that vast
desert OF waters, a contrary current of
air fortunately bringing the balloon to
land again. The whole distance travelled
must surely have been in excess of 500
miles, inasmuch as the distance in an air
line from Plymouth to our final landing
place is found to be 450 miles. Our gem
eral course probably varied very little
from direct line, until the waters of the
Gulf of st. Lawrence were reached, when
we descended into a contrary current
which was blowing inland Had we con-
tinued on over the Gulf in our original
course, we should have reached in few
hours, either the Island of Anticosti or
the northern coast of the Gulf contiguous
to the boundary line between the Prov
ince of Quebec and Labrador, 500 or 900
miles below Quebec, region sparsely
populated by Indians and few French.
Nearly the whole journey-in fact every
inch of it after the White Mountains
were passed-was travelled in the dark
ness Of stormy night, and most of it
over trackless wilderness.
The balloon passed over not only nearly
all the highest peaks of the White Noun
tains, and within almost stones throw
of Mount Washington itself, but over
scores upon scores of other mountains in
Maine and Canada, besides lakes and
rivers innumerable. The time occupied
in the voyage was from Ais on the after
noon Of Thursday the Goth, until o'clock
on the morning of the 27th-twelve hours
and fOrty-twO minutes-and two addition
al hours were spent in securing the bal
loon to the tree-tOps and in making our
way to terra firma, as our descent was
made in dense forest, The ascension
was made in connection with the Grafton
County On. H. Fair, and was the main
feature Of the closing days proceedings.
The balloon used on the occasion had a
capacity of 10000 cubic feet, and was in
Hated with pure hydrogen gas, manufac-
tured on the grounds, to the extent of
16 600 or II, 900 cubic feet After the
balloon had been filled with the requisite
amount of gas, the preparations for our
departure were soon effected, although
they were slightly delayed by rain. We
nrOVIHpH n of Of
with warm OvercOats, for the balloon was
quite sure to reach chilly region amid
the clouds. The remainder of our outfit
may be briefly enumerated: First in i'm
pOrtance was small basket of provisions:
our next important item of personal bag
gage was a gallon can filled with water;
an Anerold barometer, dry and wet bulb
thermometer, ColtOn's Railroad, Town
ship and Distance Map of New England,
relief map of the White Mountains, two
pocket cOmpasses, two pairs of opera
glasses, note book, a small flask of brandy
and an umbrella made up the rest. The
people who gathered to see us off doubt
less marveled at our selection of the
latter article, but they would have
deemed our choice wise one
could they have seen what good service
it rendered few hours later We were
enabled to take three bags of sand ballast.
which. III its moist condition, probably
weighed about 225 pounds. Strange as it
may seem, fully One-half this amount was
left in the bags when we descended,
showing that the balloon had expended
considerably less of it's buoyancy than
1000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas would
furnish, Notwithstanding the lapse of
nearly thirteen hours, while the actual
weight the balloon had to carry was from
time to time increased by the rain. A
thousand cubic feet of pure hydrogen is
supposed to be capable of lifting sixty
pounds, and this estimate would give the
whole machine lifting power of from
the weight Of the balloon itself (gas en-
velope, netting and basket, and 225
pounds for the ballast, the remaining
weight was divided about as follows:
Passengers, 1926; anchor thirty-five
POUNDS anchOr-rope and guide-rope, fifty
poundsi barometer, etc., twenty-five
pounds. AT Ais o'clock we bid Plymouth
adieu and assembled, not swiftly but mod
erately, toward the murky- looking clouds
The surface current was apparently from
the north or northwest, but some of the
clouds had been drifting northeasterly, in
the direction of the mountains. The bal
loon probably remained in sight of the
Fair Grounds fifteen or twenty minutes,
or at least we thought they might catch
occasional glimpses of us through the in
terstices of the clouds for that length of
time, since Plymouth itself was plainly
in our sight for the most part until after
4 o'clock. The lower stratum of clouds
was made up of fleecy masses which OBJ
scured the earth only in spots, and some
Of the vapor we could see through, though
dimly.
They found that as they assembled the
thermometer sank from 6S degrees at the
ground to AZ degrees below the lower
stratum of clouds, and Al degrees in it..
The reports proceeds
We had been sailing through the clouds
at varying height of mile and quar-
ter to mile and half and two, entirely
unconscious of our course or the velocity
with which we were traveling-fOr even
the compass could only indicate the diff
ferent points while we seemed to be
moving not at all-when we emerged
from the clouds and found ourselves in
close proximity to bare mountain peak
We were not more than three or four hun
dred feed above it, and as we continued
to descend slowly we soon found one or
two neighboring peaks towering above
our heads. Near us was deep black
chasm, in the recesses of which we could
hear the gentle music of a cascade. The
bleak mountain top, overspread by a
black inky pail, lowered up in awful
grandeur. 1t was only aquarter past five
O'Clock, but the dense and murky clouds
threw an almost midnight blackness over
the scene. A few handfuls of sand were
thrown out-the first that had been ex-
pended-and the balloon turned and rose
again above the peaks. Our progress at