34. Shanghai Tunnels, 3/5/11

Tonight, Dawn, Deb, Lynne, Karen, Jan, Kourtney, Katrena, Keri, and I decided to visit the shadier side of Portland and went to explore the Shanghai Tunnels. You will make your way down the dark, creaky staircase to this basement under the bar where you will find a unique piece of Portland history. Around the 1850's or so, the trapdoors and tunnels under this part of the city were used by the unscrupulous ship captains to "shanghai" people here.

Since the majority of the tour group voted for the Ghost Tour, there was a little fact vs fiction in the presentation. As the tour guide warns, it was only about 25% different, all the rest of the info given was the same. I learned some amazing and horrible dark things about the City of Portland. It was educational, and I am glad I went.

Portland, Oregon: A City's Shady Past - At one time, this great city that we know today as Portland, Oregon, was a river town whose beginnings we often look upon as being nothing more than a humble Victorian settlement. However, in reality, it was considered the most "dangerous port in the world" because of the "Shanghaiing Trade" that existed. Stopping for a drink in such notorious establishments as Erickson's Saloon, the Snug Harbor Saloon, and the Valhalla Saloon, people became unsuspecting victims who found themselves beneath the streets in tunnels and being carried out to the waterfront and sold for "blood money."

Portland, Oregon, the Victorian-refined "City of Roses" along the Willamette River, earned the reputation of being the "Shanghai Capital of the World" because of the uncontrolled shanghaiing of unsuspecting men. These men, primarily sailors, loggers, cowboys, sheepherders, those who worked on the river, and others that lived a wanderlust life, and who played just as hard as they worked, found themselves victims of the worst "skullduggery" imaginable. Thousands of them found themselves in the clutches of shanghaiers and crimps who either forcibly grabbed them off the streets or slipped them "knockout drops" in saloon, pool hall, and gambling parlor drinks. They were hauled out of opium dens and houses of prostitution, or cleverly dropped through "deadfalls" (trapdoors) that were conveniently situated in a wide array of vice establishments.

Women, in early Portland's history, had to also be cautious when venturing into certain areas of the city. They were warned not to go to dances and to stay out of restaurants, saloons, and other establishments of the evening. They, too, became victims of this shadowy part of the city's history, and found themselves being carried or dragged through this infamous "network" of wharfrat-dominated shanghai tunnels, and, unfortunately, sold into "white slavery." Like a "speck of dust," most of these women just seemed to vanish and were never heard from again.

The victims were held captive in small brick cells or makeshift wood and tin prisons until they were sold to the sea captains. A sea captain who needed additional men to fill his crew notified the shanghaiiers that he was ready to set sail in the early-morning hours, and would purchase the men for $50 to $55 a head. "Knock-out drops" were then slipped into the confined victim¹s food or water. The most eerie part was sticking your fingers through the bars of the holding/prison cells. The room behind it was completely dark. EEK!!!

Unconscious, they were then taken through a network of tunnels that "snaked" their way under the city all the way to the waterfront. They were placed aboard ships and did not awake until many hours later, after they had "crossed the bar" into the Pacific Ocean. It took many of these men as long as two full voyages - that is six years - to get back to Portland.

The remnants of Portland's infamous history of the "Shanghai Tunnels" and the "Portland Underground" are still with us. The stories have lingered, along with rubble, the trapdoors, the secret entrances, and the catacombs that still extend their presence beneath the sidewalks, streets, and buildings. While I was little disappointed that we did not get to see more the "shadier side" of Portland, I am glad I went and learned a little history of the great city I grew up in. I would suggest viewing the remnants of these infamous secret catacombs that earned Portland such a dubious reputation.

Thanks Dawn for thinking of this event, it was great!