The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1913-07-25

/ H. "A. y. Preston. or The Goodyear
Tire & Rubber Co, Akron, o., aide
in the fight of the balloon Good
year" which won the national cham
pionsh1p race at Kansas City, July 4
| Tells the following fascinating story
Of his experience on the memorable
flight: NJ @
| The victory of the balloon Good :
year" in the national Championship
balloon race from Kansas City this
year is attributable to two things:
good equipment and constant watch
fulness, and the story. of the race is
a story OF the sturdiness of our bal
loon in the buffetings Of wind and
rain, and of the crews constant at
| tention to it's navigation. Very little
| time did we have to watch the beau
tiful and wonderful cloud effects. At
intervals we would snatch a bite of
| lunch or drink a cup of coffee or
matted milk, but sleep was not thought
Captain Borry in the Million Pop
! ulation Club 11;'' the ST. Louis entry,
was the first to get away. He smash
ed his own basket, but substituted one.
from the debated Miss Sophia IL.
A little difficulty, due to high wind,
was experienced in getting the Good
year ready, but soon things were O.. k
and Upson gave the word to let 60
The wind carried us across the field
at a great rate, and it looked for a
seconds as il we would crash into
the renee 1t was soon plain, however,
from our position in the balloon, that
we were safe although | remember
sigh of relief from the spectators as
we cleared the fence and shot upward.
We struck a fair equilibrium at about
1,500 feet above ground. and sailed
rapidly away to the northwest. A
few minutes later we saw the Kan
sas City Post" Honeywelrs balloon,
and the kansas City H." (John
Watts) coming after us. The Good
year" continued at approximately or
iginal height until after midnight, the
other two balloons appearing to be
working west of us, as occasionally
we could see their lights flashing in
that direction, though the balloons
themselves could not be distinguished.
We passed over several fair sized
towns and at so skirted a small
city which was probably Ottumwa,, IA.
Almost as soon as we We're well
in the air, over in the north appeared
what seemed to be the inevitable
thunder shower for this race, and AS
the night grew on another came up
in the east, and we could see more
lightning flashes away to the south.
At 2:10, the sharp patter of rain above
told us that we were in the storm.
In a minute or two the rain was pour
ing down on the. balloon, and in a few
seconds more we started downward
''Upson watched, the instruments,
while the aide hustled inboard the
sand bags and other accoutrements
we had hung outside the basket. This
was to prevent them from being torn
off If we should drag along the
ground. About 2:30, while was maxi
ing things fast inside the basket, Up
fn
had touched ground and to watch out
as he was going to let her bump.
ga few minutes later we struck the
ground going at high speed. The bas-
ket was heavy with ballast, at this
time, and it seemed as though we hit
pretty hard. The balloon was not
damaged at all, however, and the only
inconvenience was the pint or so OF
sand that was shot up into my face
when we hit the ground. Winking this
out, kept my eyes on the .stato-
scope, the instrument which shows our
vertical motion. 1t poured rain for
half anshour or so, and we raced along
with the storm, the drag rope hitting
the tops of hills, and once or, twice
quickly bounced up again. The light
ming helped rather than worried US, as
1t assisted us in making out the coun-
try ahead. We flashed by a wind
mill and several trees at close range,
but were not in much danger of strik-
ing these as we could see them some
distance ahead. 49,
Gradually the storm drew away
from us, and it was not long before
1t was light enough to see the ground
pretty clearly. We had crossed the
Mississippi during the storm, but
where we do not know. Just after
the storm an upward air current car
ried us up into low lying clouds, and
for a. few minutes we were completely
surrounded by the wet mist. AS soon
as we could we descended to an al
titude of five or six hundred feet. At
it was nearly dawn, we decided to
drag rope, that is,-let the balloon
go along at low attitudes with the
drag-rope trailing along the ground
until the sun should expand the gas
and carry us up BY this pro-
balloon up till sunrise would be saved.
The wind had swung around so that
we were virtually coming back on our
course, but we knew as soon as we
got up high we would strike more
favorable currents We drag-roped for
about an hour over the sharply rolling
country. The wind would carry us up
the slopes without throwing any bal
last, sometimes driving us along only
a few feet from the ground. In pass
ing over some telegraph wires, the
drag-rope tied itself neatly around one
Of them, and the Goodyear" hung
for a moment securely moored in the
air A estrong gust Of wind, however.
was too much for the wire. and off
we started again, the knot on the
end of the drag-rope cutting quite al
swath through the brush and wire
fences.
soon a small city appeared ahead,
which later We found was Galena, Ill.
Not wishing to chance damage to our
selves, or the town by drag-roping
over it, we ascended, pulled in the
drag rope, cut off the offending knot,