Ruby and Lyle Downing watched a hot air balloon burst on July 4, sometime before 1909, in Jacksonville, Ore. Sixty years later Lyle described the incident in writing.
“We were on hand to see all the preparations,” he wrote. “A long trench, about 15 feet long and at least two feet wide had been dug. A fire was started in this covered trench-like pit. Something in the way of fuel was added that sent up a black smoke. The balloon had been placed over one end of this covered pit. This was how the balloon was filled with hot air. The balloon filled and started to rise…
“This was an exciting event for two small boys.
“… As the balloon rose … a man … did acrobatic feats on a crossbar that hung below the balloon. The … balloon rose several hundred feet and drifted east over the treetops…when suddenly it burst from bottom to top, black smoke and gas escaping. My father grabbed both of us under each arm and ran for safety.
“Luckily the man’s parachute had time to open, letting him down easily into a large oak tree east of the old schoolhouse.”
Source: unpublished manuscript by Ruby Downing, Aug. 8, 1972, found under “Balloons” in the vertical file of the Southern Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
