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.[citation needed]
In 1990, area businessman Bill Naito was quoted in The Oregonian as saying that the tunnels are underneath "Northwest Couch, Davis and Everett streets."[1]
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.[2]
The underground tunnels are reportedly haunted and were featured on an episode of Ghost Adventures. These tunnels have also been featured as settings and plot devices in television shows set in Portland, such as Leverage and Grimm.
See also
References
- ^ Pickett, Nelson. "Free Tours of Oldtown Set to Start." The Oregonian December 1, 1990, 4 ed., sec. C: 07. America's Newspapers. NewsBank. Multnomah County Library, Portland. 30 Apr. 2008. Keyword: shanghai tunnels.
- ^ The Oregonian: "Portland's buried truth" Helen Jung, 2007, Last accessed November 7, 2008
External links
- Cascade Geographic Society, offers tours of the basements near the tunnels.
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