Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-07-15
A PERILoUs TRIP.
Travelling Five Hundred and Fifty
Miles in Thirteen Hours in a
Balloon.
[Richmond tva.) Dispatch.I

"Tell me something about the most
perilous voyage you ever nader was
demanded of Prof. King, the acronaut.
swell, let me see. The most peri
lous voyage, I think, was over the
Maine and Canada wilderness from
New Hampshire down to the Gulf OF
st. Lawrence. We assembled from Ply
mouth and rose into the clouds. A
slight rain was falling. Our course was
northwest, and soon we found ourselves
over one of the White Mountains, and
We had to throw our ballast to keep
from striking it. After passing over
Mount Jefferson and Mount Adams, of
the White Mountains, we plunged into
the wilderness, or at least passed over
it. About nightfall, as we were cross
ing Lake Umbago, we saw light on
one of the shores, and hallowed. We
seemed to attract attention, but no
response was made. A canoe was put
down in the water, and we could see it
lodging around in the water as if they
were looking for something. They
thought the cry probably came from
somebody out on the water. We soon
left the light behind, and, nearing the
mountain shortly afterward, we dropp-
ed behind it in shelter and rested for
about half an hour. While we were
discussing (by the by, I had Luther l..
Holden, of the Boston Journal, with
me, who had been on some twenty-five
voyages before) what course it would be
best to pursue, being In the wilderness
~and poorly provided with provisions,
we finally decided to start the balloon
afioat and see five could cross the will
derness to some inhabited region in
Canada. Our balloon was only of 20,-
600 feet capacity, and not calculated,
except under such stress of circum-
stances, to remain afioat so long as we
would require to cross the Wilderness
We had still, however, bag and half
of ballast left, which we were econo-
mically using. Just here there was a
natural law to be discovered, which
was of itself sufficient to carry us
through without the use of ballast. 1t
appears that at night when balloon
reaches the ordinary cloud heights. it
becomes poised, and neither rises nor
falls without any expenditure of sand
or ballast, and so will float for hours,
provided the balloon is free from leak
age. Well, we floated on in the clouds,
which were occasionally over our heads,
and once or twice during the night we
saw the moon through the riffs, and
frequently they would break from
beneath us, so that we would look into
an inky abyss below. The only sounds
that came to our ears were the occasion
al cries of loon and the sound of fall
ing waters. From our isolated position
we could constantly hear the latter.
GAS hour after hour dragged tedious
ly away we sat in the car. We could
see each other and kept up a converse
tion, but we could not tell what time it
was except by passing our fingers over
the hands of our watches. You know
it would have been dangerous to strike
q match. Pretty soon a new feature
among the sounds of the waters struck
our ears. We wondered what caused
thepeculiar noise, and finally concluded
it was the breakers. After passing over
them, all sounds ceased, and we then
knew we were on the briny deep. AS
it did not seem to be policy to pursue
the course we were in, we brought the
balloon down slightly and slowly some
twenty or thirty miles from where we
had heard the surf, and deposited our
drag-rope upon the water. This rope
is an appendage to the balloon about
$50 feet long, and acts as ballast when
it rests upon the water. We kept con-
stant watch, and in the course of an
hour we saw in front of us black line,
which was apparently in a few feet of
us, and we prepared to grasp it, but it
proved an illusion, and as we wathched
the object it gradually widened, and
soon after our drag-rope was caught
among the tree tops. We then found
that we had run ashore over forest,
presuming it at the time to be an island,
but as it turned out the balloon had
met with counter current of air on
the water, which carried it back to the
mainland. We again rested behind a
hill, where we lay till the break of day,
when we threw out the balance of our
ballast and rose again.
After a while we discerned road,
and succeeded in landing within mile
and a-half of it. We made for the
nearest place -Sayebec, which is about
two hundred and fifty miles below
Quebec-and learned that the water we
had gone out ON was the Gulf of st.
Lawrence. If we had continued across
1t, we would have reached the coast of ,
Labrador, one hundred and fifty miles
further on. AS it was, we travelled
five hundred and fifty miles in thirteen
hours.
The Ohio Patriot says, "we are never
but we want to remark