The photograph above is a satellite image of the
property at New Era. A large, streamlined ocean-going barge is
docked with its bow docked on the property. The submarine bay,
complete with living quarters fit for a small village, was buried
along the waterfront from directly underneath the south edge of
the mobile home (visible just north of this barge); East to within
10 feet of the railroad tracks, and south to the large building
that housed the former cedar shingle mill.
The submarine bay was made from the substantial reconstruction
of two heavy-gauged steel ocean-going barges laid side by side in
the former New Era cedar mill pond, and buried. The concept of
hiding a submarine inside of a large barge is apparently from a
historical perspective not a particularly original solution. The
long-range planning and the requisite resources necessary to
accomplish the multitude of interdependent tasks required in an
operation of this magnitude is indicative of involvement by one or
more governments. They not only managed to find and purchase
property ideally suited for their needs, but they also secured
ownership of a tug and barge company with established routes from
as far away as Vancouver, BC. These routes traveled between
Vancouver, B.C., Canada, an international port and a country known
to be a funnel into the US for terrorists, and several US
international ports. These routes also traveled upstream
from the port of Astoria, Oregon at the mouth of the Columbia
River; upstream to Pier # 4, the international Port of Portland at
and above the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers;
and upriver past Portland and the locks at Oregon City. These tugs
push barges carrying freight, and they are also employed in river
dredging operations on the Willamette River and also on the
Columbia River, to and beyond the Hanford nuclear reservation.
It was nine months after the submarine
arrived, and six months after I left the state before I came to
the realization that there were barges buried underneath the
ground. However, it was the authorities who, alerted to the
presence of the underground barges, came to the inescapable
but horrific determination that foreign agents had an underground
bomb-proof 'OPS' Center replete with a submarine bay. Their
operational base was also conveniently located within 10 feet of
an international fiber optic cable trunk line, which was being
laid from Vancouver, BC to Mexico. I observed the crew of Northern
Pacific Railroad burying this cable adjacent to the railroad
tracks, a joint venture between Northern Pacific RR and
Sprint. As if the presence of the fiber optic cable begged
for a solution of how to tie into the line without detection, they
also had the additional benefit of a junction on both sides of the
tracks due to a curve in the RR line. They could not have had a
more convenient link to the outside world if they had custom
ordered it directly from Sprint.
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