Lake Oolagah, Oklahoma

Another beautiful part of our state…..

Welcome back. Oolagah Lake which was built in 1950 is still a well-kept secret for many but not for the campers who were at Hawthorne Bluff campground this weekend. Sold out is an understatement as the “full sign” was hanging at the check-in office from Thursday through Sunday. With fall break for the kids, good fishing for the adults and great weather for all, it was the ideal getaway for a long weekend. The fall foliage has started and with the heavy rain in Kansas which flows into the Lake Oolagah, water levels are high and with all the gates open sightseeing below the dam is quite interesting. Of course, a mile north is Dog Iron Ranch, the birthplace of William Penn Adair Rogers or as we call him Will Rogers. Will was born in the house on November 4, 1879 and he became the owner of the property when his father died in 1911.

Before the lake was created the house was moved to its current location about three quarters of a mile away from its original spot to a hilltop. Nowadays it’s a museum that is open to the public. You can tour the home which has been preserved from the time when Will and his family lived there for free. Narrated movies from his days in Hollywood are playing in both the house and the rebuilt barn and the view of the lake alone is worth a trip. There is also a barnyard full of animals for kids to play with, making a visit fun for the whole family.
While you’re over that way be sure to check out the old original town of Oolagah where there’s a history museum and a life size statue of Will on Main Street. He was the most popular man in American when he died on November 4, 1935 and for all you fans on November 2nd-4th the Will Rogers Museum in Claremore, the Dog Iron Ranch and the Friends of Will Rogers organization are throwing a birthday party for Will and we are all invited. Call the museum for all the details.

As for me, I’ve been staying on the old Dog Iron Ranch for the last two weeks. It’s a place I often come to write. Not as remote as Waite Phillips’ Philmont Ranch in New Mexico where I often travel to, Oolagah Lake is still a bit off the beaten track in places. As Waite used to say, “We do our best and most constructive thinking when alone, for it’s only in silence that God speaks to us” and this seems to work for me too.

I’ll end this week with one of Will’s epigrams:
“A man only learns in two ways- one is by reading and the other is by association with smarter people.”
Till next time, I’ll see ya down the road….

The Enduring Mystery of DB Cooper

Welcome back. My absence over the past four weeks and the rumors about where I might have been may have some similarities with another missing man whose disappearance you may have heard of. Here is his story, told in the first person.

The date was Wednesday November 24, 1971, Thanksgiving Eve. In order to conceal my identity I paid cash for a one way ticket at the ticket counter of Northwest Orient Airlines in the Portland International Airport. A frequent flyer, I took a seat in the back of the plane, ordered a bourbon and lit a cigarette which in those days you could do. I was dressed in business attire wearing a black raincoat over a dark suit, starched white shirt and black clip on tie.

The plane was one third full when we took off and shortly afterwards I handed a note to the flight attendant. Printed in neat capital letters, the note stated that I had a bomb in my briefcase. I let her peek inside the bag where she could see eight red cylinders I had attached to a large battery. I told her straight out that I wanted $200,000 in U.S. dollars, four parachutes and a fuel truck standing by in Seattle to refuel the plane. If all my requests were met the passengers could go free. When the plane landed in Seattle all my demands were granted and true to my word all but four people were released. The pilot, the co-pilot, a flight attendant, a flight engineer and myself all stayed on board. After take-off I told the four to get into the cockpit of the plane. I ordered the pilot to keep the plane at 10,000 feet, to cruise at the minimum speed needed to stay in the air and to keep the cabin depressurized and not to come out of the cockpit until we landed.

Moving to the back of the plane, I opened the rear doors to the outside. It was dark but in the shadows I could see the planes following us, two F-16 fighter jet behind and others above and on either side. It took about fifteen minutes to put on my parachute and tuck the money away. I knew I would have to free fall a long way to avoid detection and without any further thought I jumped.

This is one of the most written about aviation mysteries ever. Could I have survived the jump from a jet plane? If I did survive how did I get away? It was all wilderness along the plane’s route.

47 years later, after countless FBI probes, investigations by the Army and local Sheriffs’ departments searching the ground beneath the plane’s flight pattern along with offers of big rewards, the cloud that has covered this fascinating story just might be lifted. Now returning from a mysterious disappearance myself, could it be that I am D.B. Cooper, the man they are looking for? To find out the answer to that question and the reason for my disappearance, call Matt Tranquil, the Publisher of the Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise at (918) 335-8200.
Next week it’s another ‘who am I?” with a local twist. Till then I’ll see ya down the road…..
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P.S. If you are interested in reading more about this story check out Marla Wynn Cooper’s book abut the man she says was her uncle. You can download the kindle version by following this link.
https://www.amazon.com/DBs-Niece-Raw-Unedited-hijacked-ebook/dp/B01ICHR4XI.