# Bird's-eye view of San Francisco

As early as 1874, passenger balloon flights were being made over San Francisco. San Franciscans - and Americans in general - were fascinated with the thrills and dangers of flight. Although balloon technology had not advanced greatly by the turn of the century, attempts at man-powered flight were sustaining public interest. The era of powered flight arrived in 1903 with the Wright brothers' flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The balloon used in this film was owned by Professor T. S. Baldwin, who had earlier displayed it in San Francisco in 1893-94. His return to San Francisco followed an engagement at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York (1901). The balloon made headlines shortly before this filmed flight, when it burst its moorings on November 2, 1901, carrying eight terrified passengers fifty miles south to Pescadero. Although nobody was hurt, the balloon was almost swept out to sea. This film shows aerial views of an informal fairground and surrounding north-central San Francisco from Professor Baldwin's captive balloon on a late winter afternoon in late 1901 or early 1902. Restrained by hemp ropes, the hydrogen-filled balloon rose to a height of 1,500 feet before being winched back to the ground. Edward Dudley is named as one of the "aeronauts" who controlled the balloon, which could carry up to twenty passengers at a fare of one dollar per person. The long shadows suggest that this was one of the last flights of the day. The following is a scene by scene…

- Kind: Short
- Year: 1902
- Runtime: 2 min
- By: Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
- Genres: Silent
- Archive: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bird%27s-eye_view_of_San_Francisco.ogv)
- Licence or status: Public domain (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/commons/9504726?play=1)