Shanghai tunnels

The Shanghai Tunnels, less commonly known as the Portland Underground, are a group of passages running underneath Old Town/Chinatown down to the central downtown section of Portland, Oregon, United States. The tunnels connected the basements of many downtown hotels and bars, to the waterfront of the Willamette River. They were built to move goods from the ships docked on the Willamette to the basement storage areas, which allowed businesses to avoid streetcar and train traffic on the streets when delivering their goods.

In 1990, area businessman Bill Naito was quoted in The Oregonian as saying that the tunnels are underneath "Northwest Couch, Davis and Everett streets."

According to a popular, but historically questionable legend, from the 1850s to the early 20th century, they were used to kidnap or "shanghai" unsuspecting laborers and sell them as slaves to waiting ships at the waterfront. Allegedly, victims were drugged or knocked out, taken through one of the trap doors (or deadfalls), and held in a prison cell while they waited to be shipped off.

Historians have stated that although the tunnels exist and the practice of "Shanghaiing" was sometimes practiced in Portland and elsewhere, there is no evidence that the tunnels were used for this (and no evidence for Portland being a center for this kind of practice)

Today tours are available through local tourist vendors that allow glimpses of entrances to the tunnels.

See also

• Underground Seattle for a similar type of tour.

External links

• Cascade Geographic Society; Touring agency, with more folklore and legend in Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Archived version of the Oregon Live article Historians say that Portland's infamous Shanghai tunnels likely are a myth