Bumbaugh Flies "Chicago" Balloon

Attached are a pair of articles reporting on the ballooning adventures of Carl Fisher's balloonist mentor, George Bumbaugh, In the wake of the June 1909 National Championship Balloon Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  The first article, published in the June 23, 1909 Indianapolis News, describes how Bumbaugh, prepared C.A. Coey's balloon, "Chicago" for an ascension above and around Dayton, Ohio. He had traveled there from Indianapolis by train.
 
Bumbaugh planned to pilot the vessel with five or six passengers, the article isn't clear. Those people included Captain Bernard Wendler, F.C. Carley, Dr. P.M. Crume and Luzerne Custer. The adventure was expected to require several days and provisions were stored aboard the craft to meet that need. The article reports Baumbaugh was "deluged" with applicants to join the group for the trip.
 
Dayton is also reported to have "gone wild over aerial navigation." A numbers of balloons of the Dayton Aero Club were anticipated to gather with Bumbaugh when he arrived. Also, the International Aeroplane Club, formed to commenorate the arrival hom of Wilbur and Orville Wright, was also preparing for the first American flight of the "aeroplanists" outside of Ft. Myer for a dedication of a new memorial building.
 
Balloonist Leo Stevens and associates identified at Ralph De Voe, John S. McIntire, Harry Ferneding and Carroll Sprigg returned from to Dayton from Lima, Ohio the previous day. They had flown the balloon, "All-America," there a few days prior. They arrived back in Dayton by train with the balloon deflated and stored in a freight car.
 
A sidebar to the primary article (which is short as well) provides more insight to Bumbaugh's plans. He had left for Dayton the previous evening by train. He took with him two balloons, the Indiana and the Indianapolis.
 
The second article, in attachment BumbaughNews070209, briefly reports on how Bumbaugh had ventured south to Louisville, Kentucky aboard the famous balloon, the Hoosier. He had ascended from Dayton, Ohio. His balloon crossed the Ohio River at 10:15 am July 2, 1909, the same day as the article was published in the Indianapolis News.
 
The Hoosier descended to a height where people on the ground could read it name on the balloon's side. Bumbaugh and others began to empty sacks of sand used as ballast to gain altitude. It worked.
 
Citizens on the ground reportedly telephoned newspaper office to report a "very peculiar shower of sand and gravel falling out here and covering everything."