Ballooning in New Mexico

The first recreational flight in Albuquerque was on July 4, 1882 with Professor Park Van Tassel, a local saloon owner, in a balloon called The City of Albuquerque. Van Tassel had originally planned his flight for July 3, but the balloon was fueled with coal gas, and the supplies had been depleted by pre-July 4 revelry at the city’s downtown saloons. The flight finally got off the ground on July 4 at 6:15 pm. By Van Tassel’s own account, he reached an altitude of over 14,000 feet! The flight ended in a corn field near the intersection of Central Avenue and Rio Grande. Van Tassel was so excited by his flight that he subsequently sold his saloon and embarked on a embarked on a career as a barnstorming balloonist.

Joseph Blondin and Roy Stamm were not barnstormers but were key figures in the ballooning events at the 1907 and 1909 Territorial Fairs. The two collaborated to promise balloon rides at the 1907 fair, but were unable to produce enough gas to inflate the balloon and the project was scrapped. The balloon was put in storage in Roy Stamm’s warehouse and was not used again until 1909. New Mexico was actively seeking statehood and President Howard Taft was due to visit the 1909 Fair. A dirigible had been commissioned to take off during Taft’s visit but it crashed just before the fair. The Fair commission pleaded with Stamm to rescue them with his balloon. Still a little embarrassed by the previous fiasco, Stamm agreed, but the project was kept quiet until the last minute at his request. Fortunately, the Fair committee had provided Blondin with a proper hydrogen generator, consisting of a large wooden tank in which sulphuric acid and iron filings were combined to create hydrogen. Over the next few days scores of people were carried aloft on a 1,200 foot tethered rope. The tethered flights were a huge success and the day after the fair Blondin and Stamm took off with enough provisions to last a week or two and an ambitious plan to reach St Louis. The Stamm family has preserved the log and photographs of this remarkable flight of the gas balloon now christened Albuquerque. The balloon lifted into the air, narrowly avoiding a disastrous collision with the city trolley lines, and headed east toward Tijeras Canyon. It cleared the crest of the Manzano Mountains by 1,000 feet and crossed into the Estancia Valley. In all, the balloon traveled over 900 miles, was shot at by a rancher, reached an altitude of over 12,000 feet and was rescued and returned home by cowboys from the McGillvary ranch near Clines Corners.