River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-10-27
THE BALLCONIsTS ALI RIGHT.
They Land in Dense Woods in North
ern Wis. and Have Serious Time
Getting Out.

Gettln$ Out.
G. H. Summers of the Western I'm
ion Telegraph Co., received the follow
ing dispatch from Minneapolis:
Prof. King is at Chippewa Falls.!l His balloon
landed sixty-ive miles up the river from that
place, last Friday.
The Daily Mems of Chicago, Illinois
has the following from ]. g. Hashigan,
a signal service employee, who went up
in Kings balloon.
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Oct. q.
The voyagers who took such hasty
flight last Thursday from civilization,
feel no such disposition to-day. If you
should see us now, dragged and water
soaked and exposed, you would surely
have thought we loved to see civiliza-
ton. Before five minutes after leaving
terra .tirnaa, we reached an altitude of
1890 feet, moving southwest. A
| few minutes later we reached an
upper current moving slowly west, so
slowly that we barely moved but what
| prospect beneath us. We were soon
shut out by night, and had nothing to
see but myriad of lights twinkling in
| the distance. We remained suspended
over them, neither rising nor falling,
for several hours, but at last puff sent
us southwest, changing before morning
| to northwest and west. While going
southwest we remained becalmed about
| three hours, swinging over small
circle that from its location judged to
be Peoria, Ill. At 5:15 p. NJ. Friday we
passed over Spring Valley, Wis, startling
the natives by dragging our drag rope
over their roofs, and one ambitious fell
| low sent shot after us as we passed
over the Platte mounds at 7.15 A. NJ
| We remained for long time swinging
round these mounds, when the balloon,
as though anxious to give us heavenly
view, took an upward turn, earring us
| 1000 feet above the strata of clouds
and literally burrying us in the milk
for an hour. In passing the Little falls
| at Monroe Corners we came so near
| the ground that we came in con-
| tact with the trees, and we were
| compelled to take a large portion
| of one along as a souvenier. When
we neared the ground we we're greeted
with beautiful view of the verdure Ia
| every variety of form. Children were
hushed, dogs called off, horses whipped
up, and all the country matrons stood
in their doors with their arms akimbo
| and with the most surprising attitude.
! At s O'Clock A. NJ. we passed over
Patton, or some similarly named place.
! At $40 A. NJ, we passed Tomah, Wis.
At $50 A. NJ, we arose above the
| clouds and lost sight of mother earth
! for few hours. The wind increasing,
| it carried us at a rapid rate, proba-
| bly, four or five miles an hour,
and not being able to discern objects,
could not tell where we were or what
course we were pursuing; meanwhile
| the rain poured in torrents, collecting
on the outside of the balloon, it poured
down the mouth of the bag into the bas-
ket ina steady stream, compelling me
to put away my instruments; bit it
was useless, there was not dry pin
head among them. At II 40, the high
est known elevation was reached, being
| 5000 feet. From the last person we
found we were 40 miles from st. Paul,
and when we descended, at 2:30 p. NJ,
on the west bank of the river, half
mile inland. We concluded we were
in the state of Minnesota, probably
| forty mills from st. Paul, on the Missis-
sippi river. With this supposition in
mind we stepped out of our car into
about eighteen inches of ice water and
found we were in a cranberry bog. Our
experience after that for the succeed
ing five days is too horrible. How we
walked for five days up to our
knees through Doggy swamps, with
out food, except about half pint
of berries; how wolves and bears
snarled around us at night; how we
slept on wet ground at night through
heavy frosts, only to start again in the
morning through the swamp with its
ice water and falling over muddy logs
at every step, cannot be put in words.
As last resort we built a raft,
expecting to go over the St. An
thony falls. OF our subsequent dis
appointment aud our subsequent
tramps, / will tell later. But our
Joy when o'clock in the evening on
the 9Th day we reached Flambeau
river and were carried across by Clera-
more Bartrand and Michael Miner
Woodward, and here we are enjoying
the good things before us.
(Signed) ]. G. HAsHAGAN.