The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1907-10-24
ONE BIG BALLOON
SEEN IN CANADA
LEADER IN RACE BELIEVED TO
BE THE UNITED STATES.
MAJ. HERsEY ITS PILOT
Other AIrshIps Are Reported from
Various Ohio cltles--Four
of Them Drop
Messages.

Caledonia, Ont. Oct. 23.-The bal
loon, the United States, of which Ma
jor Hersey of the United States bu-
reau at Washington is the pilot, land
ed about twelve miles south OF Hamil-
ton, Ont, at 6:15 p. m. The United
States crossed the state of Illinois,
thence across Lake Michigan and Lake
st. Clair to the middle of Lake Erie,
when change of wind carried it north
into Canada to the place OF landing.
ST. Louis, Oct. 20. = Scattered
through the state of Ohio, with one or
two trailing in the vicinity of the
great lakes and another heard from
in Chatham, Ont, all nine of the big
balloons participating in the second
international aeronautic cup race were
still in the air Tuesday night.
Throughout the afternoon reports
of balloons at various points in Ohio
were coming in, while Detroit first
sent word of the contestant which
afterwards passed over the Canadian
border and was seen at Chatham.
Messages from Four.
The identity of only four of the
balloons was definitely established.
Through kilograms dropped the bal
loon America. one of the three Amer
lean contestants, containing Messrs.
Mccoy and Chandler, reported first at
Marion, Ind, and then at Marion, o.
The last message was to the effect
that the America would descend on
the borders of Lake Erie, probably in
the vicinity of Cleveland.
The German balloon, Pommern No.
1, passed over Cleveland, o., late in
the afternoon and Pilot Oscar Erbs-
loeh dropped note saying: open
water ahead. All we'll" The Pom
mern had been reported earlier in the
day in the interior of Ohio.
A note dropped during the morning
at New Augusta, Ind, near Indianap-
oils, conveyed the information that
the balloon passing was the Lotus H.,
the only English entrant in the race.
The French balloon l'Isle de France
dropped message at Columbus, o.
Hersey May Be the Leader.
There was much speculation here
as to the identity of the balloon which
passed over into Canada with appar.
emily wide lead In the big race. The
balloon is reported to have flown two
American flags, and this fact was ac-
cepted by some of the officials Of the
race as indicating that the balloon is
the United States, with Maj. Henry b.
Hersey, of the United States weather
bureau, as pilot The United States
was the winner of the international
race of 1906.
The balloon carried two American
flags, but all of the contestants were
decorated with flags and bunting The
Aero club officers were inclined to be-
lieve, however, that there could be no
mistake as to the identity of the lead
or, and freely predicted that Maj Her
sey would be the. winner OF the con-
test.
All Beating the Record.
There seemed no doubt that tha
record made in the race at Paris last
year, 402 miles, would be exceeded by
practically every balloon in the pres
ent race. Nearly all of the balloons
reported In Ohio had covered more
than that distance of ground, while
those on the great lakes were more
than 100 miles ahead of the record.
The balloon America reported that
it had been in sight of three other
balloons during most of its journey.