Like I have posted, I live close to the tiny town of Vader which is mile post 59 which means it is 59 miles from the border of Oregon/Washington and of course the mighty Columbia River. Since only locals know where Vader is, it's between the cities of Longview and Chehalis Wa. The Columbia river separates Longview Wa. From Rainer Oregon. I am retired so I no longer work in the Portland area. However I have 2 sons and 2 daughters that reside in Portland area as well as 2 brothers who reside in Portland area. Coincidently my older brother worked for Boeing in the Portland area. Boeing used to buy their airplane parts from Electronic Specialty and ended up purchasing them. No my brother is NOT D.B. Cooper and doesn't know anyone who resembles him. LOL I do go to Portland but probably only once a Month or so. My children prefer to visit me in my peaceful setting and get away from the congestion that has become Portland and feed apples to the deer that show up daily at my home. Right now the river is quite high as the rain is happening as I speak. I'm not sure what level you need the river to recede to but I'll let you know when it does start receding.

Kermit I assume you were around in 1971 November? Can you give us a common sense understanding of what people around you thought about the Cooper hijacking? Did he survive or not? Who was he? Did you know any law enforcement people and what were their thoughts? What was the reaction to the money find in 1980?

Thanks,
G.
 

Sorry I see I didn't answer all your questions. No I didn't know anyone in Law Enforcement but my uncle was an airline pilot for United Airlines and lived in Kent, Washington right on Lake Meridian ! To say the least, he was astonished by the boldness of DB Cooper. If I do say so myself, Cooper did seem to be familiar with the airplane and the area. I doubt this was his first jump ! In regards to the money find in 1980, we were all led to believe that the jump zone had to be in the Washougal drainage area. I certainly don't believe that anymore. I would say then and now that the finding of the Money lends more of us to lean towards his demise. Of course there's still $194,200 still unaccounted for ! LOL

Long time ago but I don't recall any stories about hearing the airplane passing overhead. I think most people were fascinated that he apparently had escaped and deep down were rooting for him ! I think the search was very slow to get started so IF he survived, he had plenty of time to escape even without an accomplice. The area they did the heavy searching in was rough then as it is now. However if he bailed out further South, there was plenty of open more level farmland even back in the 70's. Besides IF he bailed out over the forests around Ariel ..... where is his parachute? They did have lots of search aircraft flying over looking for the parachute hanging in the tall timber.

I was a Real Estate Broker and a Licensed Building Contractor back in the 70's. Nobody I knew worked at Wilhelm Trucking. I knew a good friend who worked at Jubitz Trucking back then. Jubitz Truckstop was thee place for truckers to hang out back then and even now. Burn's Brothers was the only other stop I knew of back then. I don't think Love's was around in those days.

Yes I was around Portland in 1971 living in SW Portland meaning the plane probably flew right over my house. Since the plane was highjacked from PdX, of course it was huge news ! I would say most people including the media thought He had NOT died in the jump. However everyone expected him be be captured quickly ! I really think the story that he most likely perished was not readily accepted or even talked about until he was never found. Then and now the FBI loves to go with that story to save face.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Kermit. 

In November of 1971, I was living in Newberg, OR ....25 miles Southwest of Portland.  I used to go to a job, the U.S. Forest Service, in SW Portland, 4th and Pine -- the old Multnomah building, just a block up from Burnside.  I used to park my car under the Burnside Bridge (free parking then).  The commute from Newberg to Portland got to be a chore, but I did it.  After getting back to school in Newberg, after Thanksgiving break, that's all everyone talked about -- the hijacking.  Many folks were looking over their shoulders as rumors spread that Cooper might even be from the Newberg area. 

I traveled up the Columbia River gorge the night of November 24, 1971 -- a carload of us were going home to eastern Washington for Thanksgiving break.  I remember that night as being very stormy in the Gorge, so much rain and wind.  We had to work hard just to keep that little car on the road -- the wind was that fierce and the rain was unrelenting. 

I'm wondering what was your recollection of weather conditions that night....I realize the weather in the Columbia River gorge that night could have been quite different from conditions around PDX and Vancouver.

MeyerLouie

Since I spent many a days delivering mail outdoors in Portland, I always felt it was just a normal wintry day in Portland for that time of the year. However weather in the Gorge is always a completely different story. Many a day the gorge is closed to trucks and Motor homes due to the strong winds. That's why Hood River, Ore is known as the wind surfing capital of the world by many. I feel that anyone who is used to the outdoors would really not have had any serious problem with the weather that night. Now if Cooper landed in the river or Lake ..... now that would be a problem.
My best friend was Meat manager for both Thriftway Stores in Newberg. Then he owned and operated Rite Way Meat in Dundee. Do you presently still reside in the area ?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Newberg Thriftway....haven't thought about that for years.  No, I haven't lived in the Newberg area for many many years, but I go to Tina Bar alot.  I like doing fieldwork and driving around Cooper country.  I live in the South Puget Sound, recently lived in eastern Washington -- where I am from. 

I caught a bad storm on 11/24/71 in the Columbia River Gorge for sure.  Many here have said the weather around Portland that night was not so bad.  However, others like Ralph Himmelsbach and Dona Elliott have said the same thing I said (even though I was in the Columbia River Gorge that night) -- the weather that night was absolutely horrible in the southwest Washington -- Portland, Vancouver, Ariel and beyond.

MeyerLouie

I guess it's all in your own perspective and I guess that's why eye witnesses often give different stories. Mine might be tainted as I was born in Minnesota and spent about 28 years delivering mail outdoors in the Portland area. I lived through the Columbus Day Storm in Portland. The night of the Highjacking wasn't any terrible weather day in Portland from my perspective!  I've delivered mail wearing golf shoes after an ice storm. There was no snow or ice that night. Portland is 50 feet above sea level while Ariel sits over 800 ft. Perhaps that has something to do with Dona Elliot's report on the weather. I am certain you are correctly reporting the conditions in the Gorge but that's another world as any local knows. My younger brother lives in Lyle, Washington which lies right above the Gorge on Washington side. It's 75 miles from Portland but another world ! One of these days when you're in Cooper country, give me a jingle and we'll have lunch and Exchange stories.

Kermit,

Your statement about the weather in Portland the night of the hijacking agrees with all reported weather data.  It was wet, overcast, the temperature was in the 40s (if I remember correctly), and winds were about 10 MPH, but it was not "stormy" as others have claimed.  The basis for the weather claims of Dona Elliot and Ralph Himmelsbach are not evident.  Also, the Portland International Airport is only 30 feet above sea level.

Meyer was about 50 to 100 miles east of the Portland International Airport when he was driving in the Columbia Gorge that evening.  I take Meyer's statement at face value, but west of the Cascades the weather was generally uniform and similar to Portland's.

If you talk to any actual Meteorologist in the Portland area, they will tell you the Portland area is one of the toughest places to try and accurately predict the weather. Why ? I've heard them on TV try to explain why their forecast was way off ! They will tell you the ocean current and the wind blowing so hard in the Gorge makes Portland one of the toughest in the country to accurately predict. As a recent example, they were predicting a wind,storm that was supposed to rival the Columbus Day Storm. The Columbus Day storm had gustS that were clocked on the Morrison St bridge around 150 MPH. Needless to say they had egg on their faces as,the recent predicted storm missed by about 100 MPH. LOL