Year: 1873

Prof. King Makes an Ascension from

 Buffalo With Three Reporters.

 A reporter who was with Prof. King in his balloon ascension at Buffalo, thus describes his experience: The balloon was one of the largest ever sent up ill this vicinity, and when filled, measured 56 feet in diameter at the largest part, and 96 feet in height from the bottom of the car to the crown where the valve was placed. It took 95, ,000 feet of gas to fill it. It was named Buffalo, after the city from which it started. In less than four minutes from the moment when she rose from the ground we were gracefully floating along at an al titude of 4, 500 feet. But most surpris- ing was the delightfully."- easy manner in which we went up. There was no swaying and swinging of the cars, and as looked up at the immense, bulky machine above it seemed exactly as though it had attained position that was perfectly stationary. There were no sensations of giddiness or vertigo no holding on of hats all was as easy as feather bed, and as calm as though the wind, which had all day long threatened the balloon with destruction, had been entirely overcome. Floating on in perfect quietude we could hear the tumult that was going on below, from the hoarse hackmen to the yelping dogs. The view from the balloon as it scared over must have been magnifi- cent. But the birds eye view of the city, giving the appearance of large rows of tents, such as are seen where ever long armies arc found, though specially inviting, did not equal the view now had of the mighty lakes, Erie and Ontario, those vast inland seas of the North, where every wave, as it were, brings wealth and stability to the Queen { City.

 | Looking over Lake Erie to the north and northwest, as far as the eye can reach at this altitude, from the numer- ous grain elevators on the shore line to the far distant horizon which seems to dip into the sparkling waves beyond, there is one vast body of water. Here the water appears to reflect the bright ethereal above there again the rays of the sun are dancing on the tiny waves and sparkling brilliantly, while in in numerable other places the separated portions of nimbus cloud floating silent ly aloft are reflected in dark spots that represented small islands. From the direction of Fort Stanley, on the Cana dian side, appear number of vessels under sail, which are so small that one involuntary recurs to the days when he made ships of by 4 inch cardboard and rigged them with half 8 sheet of note paper and yard of cotton thread. Going out of the harbor to meet these are several small steam tow-boats. To look at these from the car it recalls ocean travelling, when excited passen- gers rush to the deck to see school of frisky porpoises leaping over the waves and dashing ahead over the billowy the spray. Towards Dunkirk the as' pect was somewhat forbidding.

 Withdrawing the gaze from the wa ters of Erie and still following the shore line around by Fort Porter we city; and, following it in it's course, the greatest natural and most beautiful scenes in the world-the waterfalls and ravines of Niagara. All those who have seen the mighty torrents or heard the harmony of waters, watched the foam ing and boiling, the dancing of the spray and the unceasing rush of the streams there, would be struck with their grandeur and dignity when view ed from an altitude of mile. The i'm mense body of water falling over the precipices represented a vast grace fully curved fleece of spotless wool, and the spray was ikened by one of our party to a fountain playing to the height of 100 feet, the hills and background being the basin to receive the foaming liquid.

 At three o'clock the barometer indi- cated that we were 5,454 feet above the earth, with the thermometer down to AZ. Scarcely had we registered these | figures when we were struck by the peculiarity of the horizon. I have noticed on previous ascensions that the clouds on the horizon almost formed a circle, the outer edge of which was on a level with the car beneath the balloon. Now, however, the clouds formed only about Q semi-circle, the heaviest DOT tion of the cumulus stratum being to the southwest of Erie Lake, butappear- ing to be below us. MT. King called attention to this also, and expressed some surprise at the phenomenon. Away from the horizon and up over us, in the immensity of space, the only clouds visible were gradually forming canopy, getting between us and the sun, causing our captain no little con- cern, as he knew he would have to pay penalty in ballast for this rise in the misty region, and ballast, above all things, he wanted to store as far as pos sible, because on it, to great extent, would depend the duration of our voy- age. Hence the study of the horizon and the debate on the faultless are of heaven that

 Spread OCT shelterd earth

 An ample roof

 were cut short by the preparing and launching overheard of the 300-foot drag rope. But the rope became en- tang gled, and required three of us to clear it again.

 The balloon rushed on a distance of 5000 feet, and then sank rapidly down to 1,200. Passing so near the earth, parties were hailed and answered the signal. At 5000 feet above the earth, the temperature was 51 degrees. and at 1000 feet, the highest elevation, twas 39 degrees. The balloon landed the reporters few miles from Corning, N. r., and Prof. King went on his way l. l-