Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-01-16
GAY FLIGHT IN BALLOON
New York Aeronauts Shouted New
Year Greetings from Clouds.


Upon the arrival in st. Louis of J.
c. Mccoy and Alan K. Hawley from
Pearl. ILL.,, Mr.. Mccoy gave the follow
Ing interesting description of the trip
I'm the balloon Orient. made on New
Years day. says st. Louis dispatch:
1--WE passed over ST. Louis ut an alti-
tude of about thousand feet. Soon
afterward we assembled 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 1.SOO feet
and for two hours hung between upper
and lower strata of clouds. When we
finally let ont some gas and descended
below the clouds we We're surprised to
learn that we had crossed the MssSiS
sippi river and We're over Illinois. how
ering above Calhoun county. We Srere
near enough to the earth 10 make in
quiries of party of men who We're
clearing timber. They told us that we
were then ;S,out 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 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 We're flying through
the air and extending New Year greet
ings.
1.-The chickens all took to flight when
they saw our approach. Once we sail
ed over sheep pen low enough for
our guide rope to drag through the
flock. They broke out of the pens and
fed heller SHELTER through the woods.
We saw many flocks of wild duck and
could have had great sport shooting
them If we had had guns
I'VE did not attain higher altitude |
than 1.S00 feet. and the coolest wealth |
er we encountered was 80 degrees |
above zero. We had no searchlight |
or we would have remained in the bal |
loon all night. 1t would have been |
beautiful night for n fight above the |
clouds, rs 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.
I'VE finally saw party of men husk- |
ing corn in n field and decided that it |
would be n 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 a farm wagon,
and we started for Pearl about 7:30 |
p. m. 1t was raining hard, and the
roads were sea Of mud. 1t 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 balIooning The test satisfies us
that we have made no mistake in Sc
ecting st. Louis as the starting point
Tor the balloon races next fall"
The international balloon race this
year for the Gordon Bennett trophy,
won last year in France by Lieutenant
Frank p. Lahm of the United States,
will be held at St Louis on Saturday,
Oct. 10. 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
ormal challenge from France was re-
,eived some time ago. and entries for
he event viii close on Feb. 1.