The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-11-05
ABOVE THE CLOUDS,
The Earth as seen from "A Balloon at the
Height OF sixteen Thousand Feet,

lhe Earth as seen from n Balloon at the
Height OF sixteen Thousand Feet.
We clip the following from an &C.
count of an ascension with Professor
Donaldson, in the Baltimore american: :
Now came the most stirring Incl
dent of our trip. From the height of
four thousand feet we steadily ascend
ed, the country dwarfng into pano.
rama of toys below us. L had the
aneroid barometer in my hand, and so
marked our progress upward. At six
thousand six hundred feet our breaths
became visible, just as they would be
on frosty morning. We already be-
gan to feel cold in the body, but the
rays of the sun beat in upon us with q
fierce intensity. The index of the
barometer steadily crept around tho
dial, marking off the thousands until it
reached the fourteenth, then flying
back again and starting from zero, from
whence it progressed once more around
the dial, until it halted on the verge of
the two thousandth, telling MS that we
were only about hundred feet less
than sixteen thousand feet above the
earth.
At this height the world was an Oh.
scurity to us, vapory haze shut it out
from our view, and we could detect
nothing of it but the silver lines that
marked the great bays and rivers.
From contemplation of the indistinct
scene [ revert to my own feelings. The
air was very cold, and the sun was very
warm. The thermometer stood at so
degrees, the sun was intensely hot, as
its rays fell upon us, but for all that
we might as we'll have been in an Arctic
region. This is one of the most curious
phenomena of life above the clouds.
The rarefaction of the air hardly &C.
counts for the chilling cold which pene-
trates you through and through, while
the thermometer and the heat of the
solar rays are indicating a high sum-
mer temperature. At a height OF
fifteen thousand feet was shivering,
while my head seemed to be burning
up, and all the blood in my body rush
ing toward it. felt a very slight diff
Guilty in breathing, but my ears were
stopped up, and L could hardly hear
what Mr.. Fox was saying to me when
he was standing by my side.
We did not remain long at this tre-
mendous elevation. We slipped down
through the atmosphere to between
eleven and twelve thousand feet above
the earth, and it was there that we had
our grandest view. We had within our
range of vision at the same moment
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Harris.
burg, the Chesapeake and Delaware
bays, and all their upper tributaries
and also Annapolis and the most of the
smaller towns were included within
this extended vision. But the grandest
feature of all was when gazing east.
wardly. we very plainly narceived the
Atlantic ocean. There was no mistake
about it; the mist had lifted a little.
and we could plainly see where the
waters of the Delaware bay mingled
with those of the Atlnatic.
The view at this time was above the
possibility of language to picture. The
peninsula of land between the Chesa-
peake and Delaware bays was but a
thread of dark green upon the land.
scape; the Susquehanna river was
hardly perceptible, except for the dark
line which we knew to be the great
bridge across it; the country below us
was but checker r-board of indistinct |
green and white squares Baltimore
and Philadelphia were only masses of
shade upon the map; but the great
ocean was a reality, and to a view of it
we constantly turned our eyes, with a
feeling that here was something ever.
lasting and enduring. The panorama
that came within our scope of vision |
was probably not less than two hun
dred square miles, but from our height
of sixteen thousand feet it seemed to
be dwarfed to space you might cover
with your handkerchief. 1t seemed to
us as if we were looking through the
wrong end of field glass.
When at this height of sixteen thou
sand feet, or over three miles above the
earth, Professor Donaldson told us that
the balloon had Robtained its equilib-
rum ; that it was poised on an exact
balance, and that as soon as the gas
to condense, even in the
slightest degree, We would descend
rapidly. And it was precisely in this
fashion that we did go down.