Balloons and Perfect Horse Wonder

 

Balloons And "Perfect Horse Wonder"

    From the late 1840s through the 1850s, ballooning was taking off (pardon the pun.) Attempts were being made to make aerial journeys from St. Louis to New York City; San Francisco to New York City and an ambitious plan to make a trans-Atlantic balloon flight.

The FAA Would Not Have Approved
the "City of New York"

(And you thought the Boeing 737 was unsafe!?)

And then, there was the absurd.  Imagine somebody attempting the following today

Balloon Ascension on Horseback

Professor Elliot made a balloon ascension on horseback at St. Louis, Mo., on Monday of last week.

The Republican says:

Agreeable to announcement:

Professor Elliot made his aerial voyage on horseback. The ground inside the enclosure was thronged with ladies and gentlemen to witness his perilous voyage, while outside the numbers could only be enumerated by  thousands. There were many who thought the horse would not go up but true to the appointed time he was harnessed to the aerial car and at a given signal and with Prof Elliot on his back, off they went to the regions of air. The horse behaved himself most admirably and looked around and down upon the earth apparently in the most perfect astonishment. His hooves never for a moment clawed the air, but he contented himself in gazing in most perfect horse wonder at the peculiar situation of things. Professor Elliot seemed as much at home on his charger as if he had been on a macadamized road. As far as the eye could see both horse and rider appeared to be getting along quietly but safely. 

    This is the first balloon ascension on horseback we believe ever attempted in America and in the science of aeronauts St. Louis ranks as the Paris of the continent.

    Last evening, we understand, the officers of the steamer Keystone, which arrived between eight and nine o'clock saw the balloon and the horse coming down in the immediate vicinity of the mouth of the Missouri river and from all appearances made a safe landing. 

    A well-known balloonist, Paul Nadar, was a famous portrait photographer.  Nadar was one of the early photographers who started to take photography into the realm of an art form.  His contacts with the rich and famous made it relatively easy for him to raise money to build ever larger and more spectacular balloons. The most famous was “The Giant,"  large enough to lift a house. The public was invited to see the car/house before the first flight.  After several successful flights, the balloon crashed in a storm. Unlike the Hindenburg, nobody was killed. 

    Nadar was lampooned for his fanatic interest in both photography and balloons.  He created the first aerial photos of Paris in 1858.

    Nadar was president of the aeronautic society and Jules Verne was the secretary.  Nadar’s voyages with “The Giant” inspired Verne’s classic novel, “Around the World in Eighty Days.”

Stereoscope card of Nadar's balloon

Crash of the giant balloon in 1863

Balloon Ascension on Horseback

We learn by letter from a friend in Baltimore the Prof. George Elliot, one of the most intrepid Aeronauts in the world, intends making a an ascension on horseback from this city, some time during the state agricultural fair. From the well known reputation Prof. E. has as a daring adventurer, and his skill in the profession of aerostatics, there is not a shadow of a doubt he will make the ascension. He has constructed a new and beautiful balloon. "The St. Louis," for the purpose and has already made one ascension with  his aerial steed. As he is the first man who has ever dared perform this feat in America, we trust that when the time arrives he may be liberally rewarded for his skill and courage.

A MAN LOST IN THE CLOUDS

            We illustrate the fearful adventure which last week befell the well-known Aeronaut, Thurston, at Adrian, Michigan. The following description of the event is from the Detroit Tribune. The first Ascension took place. About 9:00 o'clock in the morning, It was on the occasion of a large. Sunday School celebration at Adrian. The balloon was a very large and well-constructed one, being about the height of a two-story building when inflated and ready to cut loose from its fastenings. Missouri's Bannister and Thurston took seats in the car attached to the balloon and. Anchored safely and locally after remaining about 40 minutes in the air, drifting towards to Liberia all the time, they alighted in the woods in the town of Higgs, about 18 miles west of Toledo. Several men came to the assistance of the adventurers, and they proceeded to prepare the balloon for packing, to be returned to Adrian.

            In doing this, the monster balloon was turned over, and partially upside down, to disentangle the belting from the valve. To do this, Mr. Thurston, one of the aeronauts, took off his coat and got astride of the valve block. He then suggested that the car be detached from the balloon while he should hold it down with his weight. This proved a fearful solution, for no sooner was the balloon relieved of the weight of the car than it shot into the air with the suddenness of a rocket, taking Mr. Thurston along with it, seated upon the valve of the balloon, and holding its collapsed silk slip in that position.  To this perfectly helpless condition the ill-fated man sped straight into the sky in the full sight of his companions, more helpless than himself. So far as is known, there was no particular moment for him to stop his ascent, whether safe or otherwise. The part of the balloon filled with gas was a full 12 feet above him so that there was no chance for him to cut its sides and allow the gas to escape. He could only stay clinging to his precarious seat, and go wherever the currents of air should take him. Without regulation or control of any kind, the balloon continued to ascend upward, sailing off into the direction of this city and Lake Erie. The fatal ascension took place about 11:00 o'clock, and at a few minutes past noon it was seen in the town of Blissfield apparently full 3 miles high and about the size of a star in appearance. It was still going up and on! At 1:15 O'clock it was dimly visible, going in the direction of Malden, as ascertained by compass bearings taken by parties observing it. What is his exact fate baffles conjecture: but that it is horrible, almost beyond precedent, there can be no doubt. There is not one chance in a million for a successful escape.

            Mr. Thurston was an experienced balloonist, having built several, and this being his 37th ascension. He was formerly a resident in the vicinity of Lima and Rochester, in Western New York, but has lately resided in Adrian, where he was extensively engaged in business as a nurseryman. He was a widower, having lost his wife last winter. He leaves an interesting daughter, about 17 years of age.

The same journal on the following day adds.:

    We have made careful and extended inquiries upon the other side, sufficient to justify us in stating that the balloon has come to earth; and, further, that in all probability it was empty! From a gentleman who was at Baptista Creek on Saturday afternoon, between 3:00 and 4:00, o'clock, we learned that a large balloon was seen to descend to the ground in the vicinity of a large tract of woods, across a wide marsh, some 3 miles from the station, early in the afternoon.

    Thurston, who but now was in the midst of the high tide of life, strong, bold, full of hope, with troops of friends about him. Lost! It sounds like the wailing of the wind in the tops of the pines! All hope of ever finding poor Thurston is blotted out, and we can only bemoan him as lost. Mr Bannister, his companion, returned this afternoon, and can bring only the worst tidings. the balloon he identified, and sent the silk of which it was composed of to this city last night.        Today he comes back despairingly. He states that the balloon valve on which Thurston sat  is torn out of the silk of the balloon three quarters of the way around, indicating unerringly that the weight of the unfortunate man was too great for the strength of the sides , and that the silk gave way, when he must have dropped off. His only remaining chance would be to cling to the smooth material of which the balloon was made, and he could not sustain himself in that manner.

            When this occurred, we can only conjecture, but that it must have been within an hour after he started seems highly probable. The balloon was seen for nearly two hours with a glass: but it must be remembered that this great body, full 30 feet high, was only the size of a man's hand when thus visible, and it would be utterly impossible to see the ill-fated man if he had dropped off. Mr. Bannister feels quite positive that he must have fallen before reaching Canada at all.

CHILDREN IN A BALLOON

… while at its greatest at altitude, the children would probably freeze to death, unless in their fright they precipitated themselves from the car. Mr. Brooks, early on Saturday morning set out in the direction the balloon had taken, in hopes to recover it, And find some trace of the lost children.

Saturday morning, at daybreak, a farmer near New Carthage, 43 miles distant from Mr. Harvey's place, discovered the balloon suspended in the air, attached by grappling rope to a tree in his yard He immediately hauled the balloon down and found the youngest child asleep in the bottom of the basket, and the eldest carefully watching over her little brother. They had been wafted about by different currents of air throughout the night, and had come to a halt but a little while before they were relieved.

The story the girl told was, that as the balloon ascended, she cried piteously to her father to pull it down. She said she passed over a town, where she saw a great many people, to whom she likewise appealed at the top of her voice. This place was Centralia. The balloon was seen to pass over there, but the people little imagined it carried two persons in such danger. Her little brother cried with cold, and the heroic little girl took off her apron, covered him, and got him to sleep, In handling the ropes, she happened to pull one which had the effect of bringing the balloon down, and, although not understanding the philosophy of the movement, she was quite content to keep the valve open, so long as by doing she found she approached the earth.    

The youthful aerial voyagers were in the balloon about 13 hours and a quarter period. It may easily be imagined that among the neighbors where they landed, they were objects of much curiosity and interest.

The girl's presence of mind and loving consideration for her brother will be remembered, while the incident itself was of such a remarkable character that we opine it will not soon be forgotten in that section. The boy and girl were conveyed home as soon as practicable, and it is needless to say, were received with outstretched arms. 

First aerial photos of Paris 1858