The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1894-04-27
VOYAGING IN THESKY
RALLooNING WITH PROPER CARE IS
NOT DANGEROUS.

Shaping Ones Course by Weights and Ba-
rometer-ExPeriences Of Mr.. and Mrs.
Carl e. Myers-Playing shuttleoock Be-
tween Two Thunderclouds.
Among the very few people who have
reduced aerial navigation to anything
like an exact science are Mr.. and Mrs.
Carl e. Myers, who are now living on
Reid avenue, Brooklyn. BY a series of
experiments stretching over a period Of
more than 10 years they have learned
to manage and guide a balloon with
approximately the same accuracy that a
sailor employs in guiding a ship, the
only element of uncertainty being the
weather. A reporter called on the
Myerses a few days ago to learn some OF
their experiences and adventures in
cloudland.
He found them not at all like what
n would expect Of people who pass a
large portion of their lives in a most
perilous occupation. Mr.. Myers is a
slender, rather short man about 40 years
old, with black side whiskers, the face
of a scholar and a benevolent express
sion. Mrs. Myers, who was formerly
known professionally as Carlotta, is a
sweet faced woman, with keen gray
eyes, wavy brown hair and a bright,
eager manner in conversation. She
looks to be about SO years old. She does
not now make ascensions, having
stopped in 1891, but she helps her hus-
band in his experiments at his farm at
Mohawk, N. Y. In her career she has
made more than 500 ascensions. Mr..
Myers has been up among the clouds So
times himself and has superintendent up
ward of 1900 aerial excursions. For
observational purposes and in pursuance
Of his studies in meteorology he still
makes his dangerous trips, although
indeed both he and his wife maintain
that ~ballooning, when carefully con-
Quoted, is not a dangerous occupation.
Neither of them has ever been injured.
$50 IN experienced a%eronaut," says
Mr.. Myers, 1.-The danger is really. no
greater than that Of sailing in a small
boat. 1t is possible to navigate a bal
loon by taking advantage of the differ
eut air currents, and in going down the
b%alloonist a steer by weights on the
same principle as steering a canoe by
leaning to one side Or the other. The
platform on which the aeronaut stands
serves as the rudder, and by throwing
his weight to one side or the other and
thus slanting the platform he a guide
himself. Of course his rising and fall
ing are controlled by the valves and the
sandbags."
In illustration of this Mr.. Myers told
how his wife once followed a course
mapped out for her by Peter G. Camp
bell of Brooklyn, who built the airship
in which Ed Hogan went out to sea and
was lost four years ago. Mr.. Campbell
challenged Mrs. Myers to start from
East New York, 60 to the city hall in
Brooklyn, thence up the river, across
New York and to the Pennsylvania sta
ton in New Jersey, to the city hall in
Jersey City, and finally to land in Sc
caucus. She made the trip in less than
an hour, and Mr.. Campbell gave her a
handsome gold badge as a memento.
"There are two or three rules always
to be observed in managing a balloon"
continued Mr.. Myers. First, be sure
that everything is taut and shipshape
secondly, don't try to estimate distances
for yourself-they are extremely decep-
tive when you are in the air. Refer to
the barometer, which is the %aeronaut's
compass, always. The most important
rnle of all is, Never give up the ship.
No matter what happens, as long as
there is anything left of your balloon
and you are still fastened to it, you've
got a chance"
"Have you ever had any unpleasant
experiences?" asked the reporter.
Mrs. Myers has had more expert
ences than l have"
Being appealed to, Mrs. Myers, after
q minute Of thought, said: "A very pc
culiar aerial adventure | once had was
over Stafford Springs, Conn.,, where
two thunderclouds played battledool
and shuttlecock with me and my bal
loon. Usually I experience no Difficult
ties with electric clouds. Their terror'
diminish as you approach them, ant
when actually among them the DANCE
Is slight, if it exists at all. In this in
stance, however, I got between an up
per cloud and a lower cloud, both heav
lily charged. l and my balloon acted al
q conductor between them. First,
would go up to the upper cloud and be
come charged with electricity and the
be repealed to the lower cloud, only I
be recharged and bounced back to tn
upper again. I played this elevate
game II times before the clouds GO
matters adjusted to their satisfaction
Then they let me go unhurt, but prett
badly frightened by being made tn
plaything Of such gigantic powers.
Another experience, commo
to balloonists and more dangerous,
had on the occasion of the first trial G
natural gas for ascension in 1883 @
Franklin, Pa" continued Mrs. Myers
"The balloon was filed hurriedly, an
in some way the balloon cloth g
caught over the valve, closing 1t.
went up too rapidly and tried to ope
the valve. but broke the cord. In such