, 1874-09-07
IN THE AIR.
Voyage Of The Balloon "City Of
Buffalo,"
Five Hundred Miles in Twenty-four
Hours,
Scenes and Incidents OF tho Trip.

~ =, =. re
p. m. noar Smiths crook, 10 milou from Port
rron n,nro,ond ,,nIi1 ,s,,on .,,rt Min. M fro,,
I,oro,sn;1 !. roao ,nto ~, o.a,or1v e,,-ro,t ND
ooSo'"nu' ~ foso 1'''u u" eaaeefis cuffons ana
Eric. Thon the balloon was brought down sew
oral thousand foot into westorlY cur ont and
m rr,ed In tho mont, If notro,t R,vor
.,':n ..,,,.s.u, asn W.. n.,-o'. A, ~.
osr to nat Of ss snainp ''fS aoea1 n sse
Trof KIM says n thu voyaco, az .At noon o,,r
n1tit,,do vns nj fcet ,od wo sconod o1,noat
""' ~''A t,e'' "uu W. nsoi"cn ~ 's''s
gradually discharged liu pu1,d-ballust, hoping to
find Son breeze at higter altitude, mud thus
bo enablef, to r,asa ovor lin }ond Aftor a e1,ort
AZ or1arro t,'oro 1owovar i, ,voa .orua ,,ot
oApo1.e" ."u. no"o4"l' waa 'ouna 'anauaaa ."s,S
antl perhaps to buffalo. which would havo boon
a satisfactory arrangement, 1t 1880 orr
a1titudo wa, 9527 feet ahovo rho lako, at 1:Bo
:, ~ ~ M nr,rn1, ,rua orr poi,oav,,lo villa mn, t,,o
r. W., 'no nano41 nAe W "o, ~" w, W.
den sat with his instrumonts constantly boforo
him, and ho consulted tho barometer and tller-
from time to time. roporting to Com
motloso King tho status Of nfratra, wlothor wo
vera rising or falling wfilo thu Leader man
EpOk tho bqlY1nE Auu llGtu tue 4oftphH84 After q
good, substantial lunch, tho momboH Of
tho expedition Joined in tho chorus
Of several eoura uut1or tho leadership
Of Prof. King. at p. m. wo noticed
tho singular, but woIl-known, phenomenon Of
tho different currents OF air in tic upper deopa
Tho schooner which wo INV far bonea:h rs vas
making short tacks will tho w.,M from tho
nortlaast, while we ut hoigilt Of 1,752 foot
wero born slowly ia that diroctiun-tllat iH wo
wero under tho influence of q light air u could
I.
ward: Capt. King on getting over tic ;ako ict
down hs drae-roro, Pinch MANILA cord
abont $50 foot In length. THIS had 4
teudoncy to steady tho afr-e!ip, 30 TINT iss mo-
tion was almost ilnporcept!blc. At 2:3o tho
maata Of u three-n,astod vessel were acen staud-
lug about 10 or 20 feet aboyo tue surface Of tho
wator off paincavillo, or botwoen that point aud
Aahtabula. iOur highost altitude ZIP to
) p. m. was 2,0J0 feet; at 3:16. 4,200
foet above tho lovol OF tho lakc,
! 900 feot. Just below tho Eric peninsula
tho merits Of the drag-rope. Descending until
within abofst fifty foot Of tho wator, we struck
the northeast curront Of wind. and instead OF
reaching Buffalo, nB wo lad hopod to do at ono
time, we wore boiue swiftly on tho back track,
and wcro swopt along about wost-south-
west. Soon nftorward tho current again changed,
and our course waH thence about wost northwest,
nnl VIC gradually neared to land, to our
aHtbsiHGtAn!is W. uUH FAa* kuMk-Hu-1l[l.
and slowly descending, we eagerly
the shores to distinguish any po,nla-
nent poiut or settlement TINT might lie in our
path. At 7 =. m. NO ran in over the Oallada
shore. and sweeping down close OVER tho land
We aacrrtatnod tint NO zero just below Point
in tho Town of h1oraea, In ESssx Conn-
ty and crossing ttlet,co tho Township Of West
Iilbury and the widest portion Of Lako st. Clair.
soaring away above tho clouds In our transit.
T!sih was ono Of the most Intensely i'll
ttnrU nfrEt,t -
trip. Tho fcoling awakened in mo was
similar to that have known on
Witnessing come Of lilo gorgeous tsn,,sforma-
tions In tho Black Crook at Niblo's. The great
globe aboye orr heads seemed poised in por-
fcct vacuum, while not n word was spohon for
some minutes, Us tho minds of al seemed thin
dos.Btr,ok at tile strango, imposing sceno.
While sweeping over tho County Of EHaex, no
had frequent exchanges Of words with tho in
bal'itants, whom King asked to takn hold Of our
Ono follow, an lrisAmnn undoubt-
cdly, sang out, Och, yee's going too fast
fer that So on NO swept, on our
niry flight, now rising, now B1ighty
falliug, md dlaollarging bsllast from tinlo to
time aH c1rcumstanceH demanded. a weird and
woro borne along on tho wings Of tho wind liter
ally. aud all the time solemn stiffness 1ogned.
At one point Of our passage aoross tho Canada
shore our drng-ropo caught In the trocs aud wo
vcro Bteatily anchored, III it seemed. but not 10
4o1 AIlu ltH Ssibllb EuHkH&
and tho aorial monster awayod fearfnlly above
olr heads. Finally, after most exciting expcri-
e"a 1--we managed, by throwing overheard sufficient
ballast to tcnr tho roro l0ote, atsti tho balloon
shot upward with a tremendous jerk, almost
throwing the passengers from their seats. After
M hour and q half Of tlls oloua-exporicnce, na
near M VIC could judge,-for. as no fire was al
1owablo noar this gasBy monster, we could only
judge Of our oourHe and time by guoas-work, -
King judged it wiae to approlch our netler
world moro oloaoly to take observations, for it
WIS the opinion OF several familiar with lake
navigation that wo woro going in tl,o
direction OF Lake Huron, a course that was
to bo carefully avoided In tho prpHont Htato OF
our ballast and gas, whicl, had both been hrgoly
drawn upon. Sighting tho earth onco moro wo
raw lights md ires OF charcoal burners, aud tho
top valve waa opened freely aud ofon to expo
lito our descent. Ncating tho abodeB Of our
felow-n mon once moro, wo found thai orr course
Ind been changed i'll all probability, and tho
lights OF largo town woro disccrnea. AS we
approached tho oartll and could distinguish tho
dwellings,. NO rent tho upper air with ropeated
ct1eora ut tho axteut Of our voices. Dy
aud by we could oven distinguish tho French
Canadian patois. On our r,gllt lln,sd lay riyor,
which / hartIIy supposed wide enough for the !.
st. Clair and hundreds OF lights we're clnaminr
in every direction. Our drag-rono wun nov
swoeplng over the tons OF tho trooB nnl tho