Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1895-08-01

ak feet and two four feet In diameter.
Then came a persistent and prolonged
struggle with difficulties. The camera
had been tesSed at the earth, and the
pull Of the special releasing string, to
be extended perpendicularly up from
the ground. seemed to moS4 the shut
ter all right, but when the vibrating,
rising and falling kite string exerted
Its motion tina camera would snap or
too soon, owing to some sudden catch
Ing of the string. / had taken many
precautions to see, that the shutter
would open and sIdt, with the result
that 1t worked too readily.
The camerc snapped number of
times beforektu had been lifted very
high, as shown in the photograph here
with, which &'as taken at height of
about thirty feet. AT this point the
kites delayed the experiment. by show.
ing tendency to come down, owing
to brief calm, but luckily the wind
again came up. finally lifting the cam
era to height of several hundred feet
above the trees and housetops. Mean
time, paid out the shutter string
from a point on the ground just below
the camera. Henry L. Allen was pay
ing out the main kite line, while Mr.
Ewald was standing about four hun
dred feet distant, on open ground, with
the object of noting the slant Of the
horizontal stick which projects in
front of the camera and serves as a
guide to estimate the direction of its
range. The projecting stick, to the
end of which the guy strings are tied,
Is seen in the center Of the photograph,
since the camera takes this part of its
own framework, as If one were look
ing along the supporting cable of a
bridge or through the rigging of a
ship. 1t resembled bowsprit. The
camera and its apparatus had to be
hauled down to the earth every time
a picture was taken and the shutter
mechanism prepared for the next pic
ture. Again the camera was raised
far above the trees, and with one ex-
ceptiOn, when the shutter string
caught on projecting hook, the shut
ter worked all right. 1t was not known
when the camera was brought down
whether the shutter had moved or not
The film was therefore reeled along
and the camera sent up for the next
picture. 1t was afterward found when
the pictures were developed that. the
shutter had not worked and that one
film was void. But it was clearly
shown in the high level pictures that
the camera had taken too much sky.
The back of the camera was toward
the sun, but it is probable that the
pull of the shutter cord forced the
camera out of position. The diffused
light above and below does not neces-
sarily fog the film, as shown by later
pictures, taken June 8, 1895, in which
grass, trees and houses are taken from
high point in the air.
Unfortunately these pictures were
spoiled by my error in developing
them, but enough is visible to show
that good pictures can be readily ia
ken. The camera being pointed at
slant toward the earth, the figure of
man is dimly seen as distorted by
leaning very far back, with curious
foreshortening. Mr.. Allen appears in
one of the views looking on The
hands of some one who happened to
be holding the kite line project, but
nothing more Of the individual is seen.
This was caused by the accidental
swapping of the camera. In another
of this kind the writer is dimly seen
with straw hat and a head looking
as large as balloon, while Mr.. Allen
and Mr.. Atkins appear distinctly in
the background, Mr.. Allen holding the
kite string. None Of us had the slight
est intention Of being photographed.
I was within a foot or two of the cam
era when the mechanism slipped acct
dentally and took the picture If the
excess Of light at high level blurs the