This excursion of the Thursday Hiking Group trekked to
downtown Portland to tour the Shanghai Tunnels of yesteryear. The locked door
of the Hobo Restaurant lent a aura of the speakeasy era to the beginning of our
tour. Luckily the rap-three-times code was answered by an Australian-accented
man who invited us in to rest awhile. Hmmmmmm. A set-up for the tour atmosphere?
Keep the guests on their toes? Keep your wits about you girlies! |
| Michael, our guide and historian |
A chance
meeting of old friends as well as the planned attendance of others gathered 19
tourists for a peek into the dusty past. Our tour guide Michael, a seasoned
tunnel explorer and tunnel history buff, greeted us and set the stage with a
lecture on the history of the tunnel's formation and uses. He carried a
dragon-headed cane reputed to have possibly belonged to a sea captain of
uncertain heritage and unspeakable employment. Michael was determined to fill
our minds with thoughts of the departed souls of the nasty business below,
repeatedly mentioning tourists supposedly hearing voices, songs, babies crying,
fleeting touches, perfume and cigar smoke. It was enough to make you wonder.
We
circled the block, returning to the front of Hobo's and watched as the sidewalk
opened via steel panels to reveal a steep stairway to the world below. We
crouched to avoid head bangers and entered the dark, musty, warm tunnel,
grabbing a flashlight along the way just in case we needed to check a dark
corner somewhere. Tiny battery powered mining lights glowed with just enough
light to allow us to stumble along together as we explored the excavated
remains of a dingy tunnel system designed and built by Chinese slaves and used
by greedy, heartless "business men" to entrap, secure and supply
crews for outgoing ships as well as women to satisfy the baser needs of men in
the area.
Booze and
opium were the lures. Dark, airless, barred cells were the stupored memories.
Six years of hard, dangerous and sometimes fatal work aboard a seagoing ship
were the result of imbibing. Human life was cheap if of any value at all except
for what it could bring the shanghai-ers. They were so deceitful that they
would even sell dead bodies or a wooden Indian to sea captains looking for a
"bargain" in crew supply. 
The
horror stories are not edifying to repeat here, but suffice it to say that it was
not a proud time in Portland's history. But the greater concern is that this
human trafficking still exists today, not in dropping drunks through a trap
door in the bar floor, but in enticing young street kids to go with
evil-intending scouts to be captured for a quick sale into the world of white
slavery.
VooDoo
Donuts, Darcelle's Female Impersonators, Dixie's Tavern and a nearly naked,
towel-draped man walking the sidewalk provided the ambiance for the tour and an
awareness that life downtown ain't what it is in the 'burbs!
A dinner
hour at Louie's Oyster bar, an historic dining establishment in the area,
provided a great place to talk it out, catch up on friends' lives, meet guests
and generally enjoy the bounty of the Northwest. MAX carried the majority of
tired tourists to their destinations for a brief respite before regathering on
Thursday for another great hike in the Mt. Hood National Forest. Twin Lakes is
our objective, good times is the fuel for our friendships. Join us when you can
because it's not about the destination; it's all about friends connecting in
delightful places and being thankful for each other.
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