Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-18
SAIL OUT OF DAY
INTO MOONLIGHT
BALLOONISTS FLOAT THROUGH
\ SUNSET GLORIES
MEMBER OF HERALD STAFF
TELLS OF ADVENTURE
Pilot j. C. Mars of Oakland Proves
More Than Master of Big
Gas Bag in Perfect
Ascension
BY ONE oF THE PASSENGERS

The glories of a sunny Southern CAL
ifornia afternoon, with all the world
spread below US; then a magnificent
prospect at sunset, with its warmth OF
| color, as the big, warm disk disap-
peared behind the western ocean and a
coast line that was visible from santa
Barbara to San Juan Capistrano as we
hoyered over the outskirts of Redondo;
the twilight, with the deepening pur-
| pies on the waters and the nils, WIN
only a faint outline to the east and
| north of the Snow-clad peaks or the
! Sierra Madre and San Bernardino
ranges, and after that a sail home in
| the liveliest moonlight imaginable with
all the world so far away that it
| seemed almost as unbelievable as
| dim dream.
That was the panorama of beauty
| shown yesterday afternoon and even
| ing by Pilot j. c. Mars of the Oakland
Aero club and his charming wife, who
accompanied and assisted him, in the
| big balloon Los Angeles"
| The ascent was made from Hunting
ton Park balloon field at o'clock yes
terday afternoon. The descent was
made in a plowed field near Manches-
ter avenue between Main street and
South Park avenue at 6:25 o'clock last
evening, and was made SO gently that
when the basket struck the ground
| there was less jar experienced by the
six passengers, which included the pi-
lot and his wife and party from Los
Angeles Herald, than often is expert
enced in the start of a street car in
Los Angeles.
Pass the Mile Mark
The highest altitude reached by the
Los Angeles was $500 feet-just
! :; mill
| level This was the height recorded by
the aneroid barometer when the big
| gas bag was nearest to the avition field
at Dominguez, which was the goal Pilot
Mars was striving to reach. The dis
| tance covered in the two hours and
| twenty-five minutes was about thirty
| miles,
When the start was made at 4 o'clock
| the afternoon was as glorious as any
winter afternoon ever enjoyed in the
southland. The earth dropped away
according to the aneroid-about 2OO0
feet. Pilot Mars was busy arrang-
ing his ropes and sand bags in the
basket so that each might be handy
to his touch in case of need. No one
spoke, but each passenger in the bas
ket seemed to be drinking in the glory
of the scene below.
1.-TWO thousand" said the pilot,
land We're going toward Boyle
Heights What l want to do is to get
down to the Aviation field and land
there, if the wind will let u.s." and he
got busy with one of the bags of sand.
Below US the farms We're marked
out like squares and triangles and
other geometrical figures ON a gor-
geous but strangely VarieSated carpet.
To the left, far below, was the city,
its growth and prosperity shown more
convincingly to the human eye from
this ,heght than any table of figures
can show. To the east, stretching out
in a long climb of successive peaks,
were the snow-clad Sierras, ending
abruptly with the thin, sharp point OF
San Bernardno mountain. A little to
the south was San Jacinto. a giant
saddle of white, and, crouching close
beside it, was the glittering summit
of Temecula.
Long Line of Shore
Look the other way and there was
the long line of the surf on the shore
of the Pacific and the blue waves OF
the ocean flashing now and then as
the sunlight caught them at the right
angle.
This was the picture of lifetime
to the passengers, but it was an old
story to Pilot Mars, and, besides
that, he was figuring.
"Still going toward Boyle Helghts
slowly" he said softly, after the drag
rope had been let out and the anchor
fixed to the edge of the basket where
it would be under the pilots hand if
II should be needed in hurry. There
was no scare or noise about his prep
arations, but it, gave to the passengers
an added sense of security to see how
he was getting his air craft into ship
shane before he stopped to say Hello
or admire the scenery.
"All set" was the next checry remark
as the big balloon hoVered over the Los
ANGELES river bed about due east of