The FDR in that plane required a microscope table in order to read the foil. they had some sort of timing at that point or wouldn't have noted 8:09 which could of been anything. they believed the search area should be moved 3 miles north which makes sense but then they claim to move the search all the way to the Columbia from the center of the original jump point. that alone is a very wild thing to state while believing the 8:09 position was above Lake Merwin.

Tom Kaye said that given the erosion he was able to identify the same layer (the layer identified by Palmer as '74 dredge) along the beach which he says is actually a natural layer.

There obviously has been a significant amount of erosion...I've posted a pic below. The picture  was taken by me this January. The dirt access road is at the top of the bluff. In fact, if you recall the picture from the helicopter in 1980 that shows the agents digging with the FBI car parked on the access road...the car would be on the road in this picture. It's difficult to tell but the initial drop off from the road is about 2.5 feet I would guess. Then it slopes down a little and drops off another 6-12 inches. Then it continues to slope and drops off another 3 inches or so to the actual beach which is sandy and slopes into the water. You can see how the strata levels have been uncovered here up to and including portions underneath the access road which obviously weren't from any dredge.

Richard showed me on Tena Bar that the spoils would run like a slurry back down onto the beach and much of it back into the Columbia. After it dried, the Fazio's would then use their spreaders to push the sand along the beach. This is well documented in the high altitude pics of Tena from that era. The significant beach erosion started after the dredge spoils were no longer placed on the beach.

I had some time to kill yesterday as my wife had a appointment in nearby Castle Rock. I took a ride up to the area of the Placard find location. It’s quite a few miles East of I 5. I’m not sure exactly how many miles “ as the crow flies “, but it’s quite a jaunt via wheels. Silver Lake is 7 to 8 miles, Toutle is 10 miles and it’s S E of Toutle. The area has been heavily hunted and logged over the last 47 years so it’s doubtful anything Cooper related is still lying around. I think Carroll Hicks has passed away but I’ve never got the name of his hunting partner. I am friends with several who grew up in Toutle and Longview/Kelso area. I encountered several logging trucks exiting the area stacked high so there’s plenty of logging activity as we speak.