Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-01-15
GAY Fiji 3 TIT I'M BAL i DON.
New York Aeronauts Shouted New
Year Greetings From Clouds.


Year Greetings From Clouds.
Upon the arrival in st Louis Of ].
o. Mccoy and Alan r. Hawley from
Pearl, Ill, Mr.. Mccoy gave the follow
ing interesting description Of the trip
In the balloon Orient, made on New
Years day. says st. Louis dispatch:
We passed over st. Louis ait an alti-s
Jude OF about thousand feet. Soon
afterward we ascended above the
clouds and remained there for some
time. Half an hour after our start we
! crossed the Missouri river. We then
assembled to an altitude Of 1900 feet
and for two hours hung between upper
and lower strata of clouds. When we
| finally let out some gas and descended
below the clouds we were surprised to-
learn that we had crossed the Missis-
sippi river and were over Illinois, how
ering above Calhoun county. We were
near enough to the earth to make in
quiries of party of men who were
clearing timber. They told us that we
We're then about twelve miles south Of
Pearl, the nearest railroad station. We
concluded to remain in the air half an
hour longer and drifted toward the
railroad
Along the journey we amused our
selves by shouting Happy New Year
from the clouds. We had a big mega
phone. We must have frightened some
of the natives of Calhoun county out
of their wits. No doubt. some of them
! thought the angels were flying through
the air and extending New Year greet
| ings. $5iS.
The chickens all took to fight when
they saw our approach. Once we sail
ed over a sheep pen low enough for
our guide rope to drag through the
flock. They broke out Of the pens and
fled heller SHELTER through the woods.
We saw many focks of wild duck and
could have had great sport shooting
them IL we had had guns
eve did not attain higher altitude
than 1,S00 feet, and the coolest wealth
er we encountered was SO degrees
above zero. We had no searchlight
or we would have remained In the bal
loon all night. It would have been a
beautiful night for a fight above the
clouds, as the moon was shining bril-
| liantly. But it would have been dan
gerous without lights by which to ex-
anime our instruments to determine
our altitude and direction Of flight.
We finally saw a party Of men husk-
4 ing corn in a field and decided that it
would be good place to descend. The
balloon came to the earth easily and
was quickly debated. We landed on
George Refers farm. The men help
ed us in every possible way in pack
Ing the balloon for shipment. The bal
loon was loaded into farm wagon,
and we started for Pearl about I 80
p. N. It was raining hard, and the
roads We're sea of mud. It was after
! IL O'clock when we got to Pearl,
During the entire trip we threw
over but three of our eleven bags of
/ ballast. The gas proved to be perfect
for ballooning !. The test satisfies us
that we have made no mistake in Sc
Letting st. Louis as the starting point
for the balloon races next fall.''
The international balloon race this
year for the Gordon Bennett trophy.
won last year in France by Lieutenant
Frank 2. Lahm of the United States,
will be held at St Louis on Saturday,
Oct. IS. Assurances have already been
received by the officers Of the club that
| most Of the leading foreign countries
| viii be represented in the contest. The
formal challenge from France was re-
ceived some time ago. and entries for