Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-07-22
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THIRTEEN HOURS IN A BALLOON.

x0xh4b6N aVUh0 In a OA11VVN.
Over Land and Seattle Exciting Expert.
ences OF IN Aer0naut.
Tell me something about the most
perilous voyage you ever nader was
demanded Of Professor King, the
aeronaut.
"well. let me see. The most perilous
voyage. think, was over the Maine and
Canada wilderness from New Hampshire
down the Gulf of st. Lawrence.
We assembled from Plymouth 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
out ballast to keep from striking it.
"After passing over Mount Jefferson
and Mount Adams. Of the White Noun
tains. we plunged into the wilderness,
or at least passed over it. About night
fall as we were crossing Lake Cmbagog.
we saw light on one of the shores and
halloed. 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 prob
ably came from somebody on the water.
We soon left the light behind. and.
nearing the mountain shortly afterward.
we dropped behind it in shelter and
rested for about half an hour.
While we were discussing Thy the by
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 afloat and see if we
could cross the wilderness to some in
habited region in Canada
"Our balloon was only If 20 600 feet
capacity, and not calculated, except
under such a stress of circumstances, to
remain afloat SO long as we would re-
quire to cross the wilderness. We had
still, however a bag and half of ballast
left. which we were economically using.
Just here there was natural law to
be discovered. which was Of itself sufi-
cient to carry US through without the
use of ballast 1t appears that at night
when a balloon reaches the ordinary
cloud heights it becomes poised, and
neither rises nor falls without any ex-
penditure of sand or ballast. and SO will
float for hours, provided the balloon is
free from leakage.
Well, we fioated 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 be-
meath us, so that we would look into an
inky abyss below. The only sounds
that came to our ears were the occasional
cries of a loon and the sound of failing
waters. From our isolated position we
could constantly hear the latter.
AS hour alter hour dragged tedious
~ away We sat in the car. We could
see each other and kept up converse
ton, but we could not tell what time it
was except by passing our fingers over
the hands of our watches. You know
1t 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 the
peculiar 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 1t
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
uCdTO lie SuIl, duu OcpOSlU0U OuI uIB4Se
rope upon the water. This rope is IN
appendage to the balloon about $50 feet
long, and acts as ballast when it rests
upon the water
1--WE kept constant watch and in tho
course OF an hour we saw in front Of Us
q black line, which was apparently with
In a few feet of us, and we prepared to
grasp 1t, but proved an Illusion, and as
we watched the object it gradually
and soon after our drag-rope
was caught among the tree tops. We
then found that we had run ashore over
a forest, presuming it at the time to be
an island, but as it turned out the
balloon had met with a counter current
of air on the water, which carried it
back to the mainland. We again rested
behind hill, where we lay till the
break of day, when we threw out the
balance of our ballast and rose again.
After while we discerned a road, and
i'm landing within mile and
a half OF it. We made Tor the nearest
place -Sayebec, which is about $50
miles below Quebec and learned that
the water we had gone out on was the
Gulf OF ST. Lawrence. If we had con-
tinued across it we would have reached
the coast of Labrador. $50 miles further
on. As it was We travelled $50 miles in
thirteen hours.-[ Richmond Dispatch.
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