The Republican journal., 1872-10-10
UP IN 4 BALLOON
A Sail in the Air from Plymouth, N. H., to
Sayabec, Quebec.

\. hing and the writer. September 26 and %.
winch had Plymouth. \. H., for its place of
heEnnin-' and the little, obscure settlement OF
>at ahec. on the line of the now 1ntercolonial
Railway, tor its terminal point, must certainly
regarded A. one of the most thrilling and re
srAabie aerial JOIN neyS which has ever taken
ace IN America. In fact few of the ballt on
VOYAGES made i'll France or England, of which
record has been made. equal it either in extent
ot duration or distance. The widest and most
,late region nj New Hampshire, Maine. and
the extreme lower portion Of the Province of
Quebec Were traVersed. to the very shores of
the Gulf OF st. Lawrence. the voyage even eX-
tending out over the vast desert of waters, a
contrary current of air fortunately bringing the
balloon 10 land again. The whole distance
trl1 elled must surely have been considerably
in excess of 500 miles inasmuch as the distance
IN IN air line from Plymouth to or final land
iH--piace i found 10 be about 400 miles. Our
general course probably varied very little from
50 direct line until the waters of the Gulf of st.
Lawrence were reached. when we descended
INTO contrary current which was blowing in
iAh4. Had we continued on over the Cult in
pul original course. We should have reached ia
"a few hours either the Island Of AntoicUsti the
northern coast of the Cult contiguous 10 the
boundary line between the Province of Quebec
and Labrador, 800 or 600 miles below Quebec.
"a region >par>ely populated by Indians and
lew French. Nearly the whole iournev-in
fact every inch OF IL after the White Mountains
were pa>>eu-WaS travelled in the darkness of
stormy night, and most Of it over a tracklesS
wilderness. The balloon passed over not only
n''i'H a ihc nl2herl PEAKS OF Inc W hlte Noun
'tn>' ing WNhln aimo>l 4 stones throw OF the
summit OF Mount Washington ITSELF but over
-rute> upon =, re- Of other mountains in Maine
aul G. Cahada. besides lakes and rivers innumer-
-''- lne fllne occupied IN the voyage was
irom eighteen minutes past four o'clock on the
..'fFnooh ol lhur>daY- the 10Th. until 1--WE
nrpck ~ the morning of the 27th-tweVe
h'uf> i'd iortN-tWo mnlte>-and TWO addition
. sn in r1,l.io ,i,; WY f,iT -
-- ti,.,,,. ,,,,. l,i+ 80 ,i - - ~; ,''.' i,a y
mkt Tb. .,t,,. .i, w. ,,,a,a ~ onnno"tin
.,5tb th,. t;ratton r,nnt,- n III ! Eair anJ w
.l, r,.,, t,.,r, N ~ i.;,,, ~. - ,'ro,ol
. Tbl .'.n,5, '-,d M rhe o.,.,sidn i- Esl =
irI- ~ p1 ,a6 ,.nl,ir bet and ,yas i,,itaS
,,..b ,.lr. h,,jr,.,an 'r4s ,,annf,c+uraI ~, tba
.-,.t-i> T., tia s,tonf 1f 1G O6O ~ i O0n r,Ii,.
.f..+i,, f,.Ilr,, "a i55,, ana ,1;tb rs
-..ui.j-e yl,plnt ot gas tho nranarations far
sr l,l,.rttra were ,oo, etls.tdi lItbn,,,h +be1-
a.-, ,lighrIy fe.ava1 h,. r,in W. ,IE1,i'ls i
.-rr>aIve, ~ 4 1u.l1ter Of course Win warm
4qrcoat> for Mn. h.1l19n [ya> ouife sIIre to
r+.t-l s .Iixv rrClnn amt 4 f,,a .londs rhn ra
al.lude~ 7t ,ur outtit may be quickly enumer
t,l. First M ;nnort1nrp was a small basket
IT itoyi>iao>; orr next Imnorfant item Of ner.
$, n. baggage WIS 4 gallon can filled with water
An Anernjj b3~ometer dry and wnt huih fher
.lamttcr< Coltou's Railroad Township and
Distance N3,,ut New Enrlantl 4 relief man of
Tie Nhi,. Mountains two u0rket commas .es
-No. },j.r~ af onera glasses. note book. a small
'..k X at brandy and m umbrella made I'M tbn
r-.- The p.nl.e Who had Gathered Ia see NJ
.t .oubt,e>. muryeIed 3t our selection of 1he
I.titr article bi1 They won III have deemed our
..h0r- q wise one rouId they have seen what
-oD4 service il rendered = few hou1,s 1ater We
were rnabl.,l 10 Ike three baos of sand ballast
which, Ia lis moist condition probably WEIGHED
-.unu- I'd hounds Strange as it may seem
+ul15 oue-hslf tbi, amount was left i'm the haoS
when We descended. showing that The balloon
H.a ,xprndpj considerably less of huovqno.-
=,
f.rni>h notwithstanding the iapse Of nearly
.L.~te,u hours While the lctual WEIGHT the hYI
sa.1 l.d ,ocarry VIII, from time to tine inrress.
..! I,v the RAIN. \ thousand cubic tect of pure
f.+lr,grn ! >IInl,ose1 70 be ,anahlp or litirrr
-lN.v bounds. and this estimate would rive tre
whole machine a lifting power of rom $50 TO
J2n ,.ound,. Allow 300 for the weight Of the
balloon tt>,lT lr3--enyfIol,,. nrttjno 4II ha.Latl
md 995 uoulli, fo, the ballast tho remainincg
weight WAS divided about aS follows. p4SsenG-
.r- 595: anchor thirty-tiye noun1S. .nchnr
rope and guide rome tity p0und, L,ro,oefrr
A. tEenty-tive bounds, Al eighteen ninitrs
t,>t t,ur o'rlork wa MI p}ym0uth adinII m /
..,,ru,Iad moi swiftly ANT moler.teIy tnIvnri
rb, n,urky looLino ,loud, Tha .urt4rn cnr
REM ,>,, a1l.arentIY from the ,lorth ~, ,nrtb
,vr>f l,ut some ,f tha Glands had been lr ftirl,
i,,ltbp,Slerly in fine ,lrp.tinn If tb4 ,,,nunti,,
Thr halloln nrol,ihIv r,.nainal in siuht ,,f +i,,
.4o,,5 nI..n ii,e Fsir Cronnd tit,aa7 , r,.o,,- any
,,juuts> nl ~ lnat va tl,nu,,lt tl,o1- ,,,;li+
t., nrra.innai aji,nn.aS ot W., 1i,roIab th =;
.rri.., an ih4 ,.7oui tor HIT ln.,I6 - t;a ~
.r.. pymoi1tii it.alf ly5S ,,iainl, e, f,. +iI1t
+, 'b.. most rYrt uufiI ,ftpr f,ur q, .Iori ~
owrg >trarlm of LIQUIDS Vas made ~, Of t,aa!v ,!
ass, which al,,cIlr,I tl'n aarfh onI,, ", lt
md ,nna If the vs},o1 We ,nnid ln ti,olI'5rl
;G.ilslt ,lil W.
Tbly tnuId th4t a. they ascanJa,} ti,a thai
,,,l,,.1or sank from Is lp rrnos at tho ,,ra,,i a.
i,r,laS h,Io, ~, 1r,,7.r t., - O'''lD i ~
aid IL deleYee, in if. The renorr nrnccos
~ pi' 10"s
~IlIlnO through Inc lis .
raINln& hri-ht OF from mile and quarter to
i mile ilu Il man OF i"o mlleS, At'feIy uncon-
-rlou> OF our course or the velocity with which
we were traFeiiin@-i0re even the compass could
ouly indicate the different points while we
seemed to be moving not ut al-When we
merged from The clouds and found ourselves in
dose proximity to a bare mountain peak. We
were not more than three or four hundred feet
above IL anu as we continued to descend slow
lv we soon found one or two neighbOrin% peaks
lowering above orr heads. Near Us was a deep
black chasm. IN the recesses OF which we could
hear the gentle music Vi a cascade. The bleak
mountain tops. over>pread by black, inky