Tunneling in Tacoma?
· Posted Wednesday May 3, 2006 by jamie
So I was looking at the Wikipedia article for Tacoma the other day and came across something that piqued my interest:
Tacoma is also notable for having an extensive network of tunnels underneath its streets. Although not open to the public, the passageways have been explored by “urban tunnelers” and discovered to run at least as far as from Stadium High to Tacoma General Hospital.
(Pertinent page revision at which this was added, for posterity’s sake)
What huh!!!???
Curiousity piqued, I went to the web, and came across this HistoryLink article. Not exactly as described, but there’s a bit of interest and intrigue. Shanghaiing tunnels leading from Pacific Avenue saloons down to Dock Street, secret entrances to brothels, even tales (probably false) of tunnels used to sneak Chinese residents back into town after the 1885 expulsion…
The following was sort of interesting, but seemed like an incomplete thought:
A construction project in the Rhodes Building early in 2005 rekindled interest in the Chinese tunnels. A worker in the building, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear that his boss would frown on the idea of a worker thinking about crawling through a tunnel during company time.
In fact, the closest thing I found to the description was a description of the steam tunnels under downtown.
The Consumer Central Heating Co. was based along Dock Street and provided many of the downtown business buildings and hotels with steam heat. The system required crawl-space-sized tunnels to web throughout the city to move the steam from the waterfront steam plant to the buildings several blocks up the hillside. The system operated for more than 50 years and only closed down in 1979 when buildings shifted to having their own air conditioning systems. The tunnels were never removed and are only filled in when construction crews come across them on a construction site. Such was the case during the road work along Pacific Avenue.
So that is all well and good, but doesn’t quite portray anything on par with what is suggested in the Wikipedia article. There may have been some Shanghaiing tunnels in basements, but likely long since caved in. A network of steam tunnels existed under downtown, but have been subsequently been filled during construction, and furthermore there is no suggestion that they extended to the Stadium District.
So on to the Northwest Room from the library website to see if I can find anything there… All I could come up with there were some pictures of relating to a new tunnel being built across 12th Street downtown between the main branch of the National Bank of Washington (which became the old Tacoma Art Museum) and it’s annex across the street (the site of which is now the plaza in front of the Wells Fargo Building). This all happened in 1958, so…not much there. Does make you wonder whether there is any evidence in the old TAM building of the tunnel, though…
From here, things just moved on to the paranormal and/or mythical…
This site contains a somewhat interesting account by “Gary C.” of some strange light orbs emanating from a tunnel in the cellar of some unnamed downtown building…so that’s kind of interesting but is pretty much a dead end.
And finally, the world of Shadowrun, which I think is some sort of D&D game that appears takes place in the future (circa 2050 or something like that), there is something called the Ork Underground underneath the streets of the Seattle metro area, and yes, Tacoma gets its own underground presence. I’m not making this up, people. See here for yourself…
The highlights:
East 11th Street and St. Paul Avenue (Tacoma): Located in the basement of the Bickson Building near the waterfront, the Crying Wall is a monument to the metahumans who died during the Night of Rage. Twenty meters long and six meters high, the wall is a bas-relief sculpture carved by ork and dwarf artists that depicts the events of that terrible night. Because it stands at one of the entrances to the Ork Underground, the orks consider the wall part of the Underground and guard it day and night. There is a stand in the building lobby where John Q. Public can buy a ticket for three nuyen, and an escort will take you down to the wall and answer any questions. Because the Underground tunnels opening off the Bickson entrance are mostly in their original state, this entrance is not open to the public.
But wait, there’s more…
People who figure out the right “toll” for the orks on guard can use the Bickson entrance. It connects to the maze of old sewer tunnels and storm drains under downtown Tacoma, which stretch up into the Downtown District and include some of the tunnels into which escaping metahumans fled during the Night of Rage.
So, um, apparently this maze of tunnels goes under the Foss Waterway!!!???
I think that’s about all I can come up with.
So what’s the deal? Are there tunnels under Tacoma? There certainly appear to be some long-standing rumors. A lady at the Historical Society storefront on Antique Row even made mention that a friend had been in the underground, but didn’t know any details.
So let’s hear: Does anyone out there have any tales of the tunnels under Tacoma? Is there any truth to the Wikipedia posts, or is someone just having a laugh? Let’s see some comments! Or if anyone has inside info or access to the tunnels, get in touch with me directly using the contact page. (I’d love to see them if they exist…)
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Back in 1993 or 1994, I was living near 6th and Jackson, and we had one of those “close all the schools” snow days. I was concerned about the roads in downtown Tacoma, because most of the hills in my part of town were dangerous to drive on, but the 30th street hill was being well sanded, so I chanced it.
While most streets had a lot of snow on them, 9th and 11th street, downtown, and the streets connecting them, were remarkably snow-free. Someone who’d been in town a lot longer than I had told me that it was because of the steam tunnels that run under downtown. I believed him, until now.
I googled for [tacoma “steam tunnels”] and came up empty, except for the links you already mention. I think it’s bogus, and should probably excise it from Wikipedia.
jtl
— TravisL May 3, 03:17 PM #there are a number of these tunnels, i worked for at&t broadband and explored a number of these during a fiber optic construction project in the late 90’s.
— shawn ronich May 5, 03:14 PM #we also found a couple of abandoned tunnels during excavating work in the downtown area,s.the city also keeps a map of sidwalk vaults that are sidewalks that are acutally vault that can be 50’ deep and run the length of an entire vault. also the st helens intesection at the att and qwest building is hollow
it is a massive telecommunications vault shared by att, qwest and others.
there is and old bombshelter in the basement of the olympus hotel tht if you explorer will lead to a underground passge the runs the length of the street, there is an old barber shop/bathroom up in there..
Very interesting, Shawn.
I’ve noticed grates over vaults on sections of the 10th and Commerce bus area. For example by the Rust Building. There are also some on the back side of the Pantages, which I believe have elevators to the basement of the theater (I’ve seen people loading racks of music stands onto them).
But it sounds especially cool that you were able to find some “unofficial stuff” (or at least unused stuff) while working in the area. Assuming you could take a few minutes away from your actual work, I could see a bit of exploration being pretty fun.
Very interesting about the Olympus Hotel. The Library’s building index references a TNT article from 1962 stating that the Olympus was approved for fallout shelters, so I guess that’s where that came from. (From what I can tell, the basement previously held a supper club of some sort.) Can’t find reference to any barbers existing on the block, however, though I suppose that wouldn’t have necessarily been mentioned on the building index. Wonder what it takes to get down there and look around…
I have noticed glass bricks on the sidewalk in various places along that stretch of Pacific, like specifically by Meconi’s. Makes me think of the Underground Seattle stuff. I’m unaware of any re-grade in the area, so if that really is a skylight it must have been designed in… Anyone have info on that?
— jamie May 5, 03:52 PM #I am totally intrigued by the tunnel stories. Portland has Shanghaiing tunnel stories too- although I don’t think their tunnels have been found either.
Considering the Chinese lived along Tacoma’s waterfront, I’m not sure why they would need tunnels. Makes for good stories though.
I had a meeting with a City employee who made a vague reference to someone considering doing a tour of Tacoma’s Underground- like Seattle. Wouldn’t THAT be cool! I know there are “hollow” sidewalks all over the place and he mentioned a barbershop being down there too. I’m not sure why we would have underground shops since I think the current street level has always been where it is.
Another tunnel story:
— morgan May 11, 09:22 PM #Growing up here, I heard a rumor that there was a tunnel going from the Rust mansion to the Ruston Smelter. I’m not sure why Mr. Rust would need a tunnel to get to his company and that would be a LONG tunnel!
some of the sidwalks are or were hollow. the blue/purple glass was to let light in. as for the olympus a hard hat and a vest might get u in.
— shawn ronich Jun 8, 07:02 AM #the tullys has a back room a well, there is a passage (short) that has a steel vault in it. it used to be a jewler way back. as far as underground shops.
the area was not directly terraced and some of those underground areas were above ground. through time and building the level was terraced and rased, some from the original building of the foundations. there are also a couple of rum tunnels that lead to the train yard below. the city has them locked because repitrators are needed, there was a rumor true or false, that some tunnels were used for interned japanese during WWII.
u can get a map from the city for the vaulted sidewalks
also, please use caution, a gas mask will not work in all areas, u might need a full respirator and take a buddy if u go exploring.
— shawn ronich Jun 8, 07:04 AM #it is cool to go underground, just do it smart
to jtl.
— shawn ronich Jun 8, 07:08 AM #yes there are some steam tunnels. most of of it was just steam pipes. i dug up a few of each.
for morgan’s comment:
had a buddy in middle school who lived in one of the rust mansions. did some “spelunking” of sorts back then, in the sub-basement (under the basement, it’s huge!) looking for tunnel entrances. none to be found, with the exception of the tunnel that led to the adjacent garage/butlers house from the main basement (already knew about). concluded that the rust tunnel rumors were probably due to the size of the excavation for the house, that, at the time of the construction, must have made many a resident suspicious. not to mention, the rust family was all kinds of secretive and crazy.
i am also an alum of stadium high. similar story with stadium. been to the boiler rooms, “the dungeon” or “the cage” (where old athletic equipment was stored in locked “cages” beneath the pottery room). it’s rumored that stadium high school is literally built on bedrock, which would have required some serious excavation. it did ride out the big ‘60’s e.q. pretty well. and the tunnel rumors prolly came out of this extensive excavation project as well.
i do think that tacoma has an amazing history, one that is far more undiscovered, veiled and mysterious than a lot of other nw cities. some big old industrial families running stuff back when… it’s great to read people’s posts, even when it’s just rumors.
— j. Jul 21, 08:03 PM #howdy. i came across this article while looking for info on the old elks bldg on stadium way. i have always been intrigued by these tunnels, although i have never ventured through any of them. even so, i believe they do exist.
i graduated from stadium high school in 1995. during the last year, i was fortunate to have access to a back room near the old gym and another room near there, on the side of the bowl. there were several weird, locked doors. a friend of mine found a janitor’s key that opened some of these doors. one of these doors opened to a tunnel, large enough to walk straight up. there was a cool, clean breeze coming through. we nevered went further than 10 feet in due to lack of light, but the walls seemed like chipped rock (not built by brick or mortar or wood). i have regreted not venturing further into this tunnel or other possible doors when i had the chance. i fell lucky to have been able to see some of these secret, old areas of stadium high. we even found a route to the attic, and to the roof.
if you find out any more info on these tacoma tunnels, i would like to know. interesting stuff.
thanks for the article.
— mateo Dec 19, 11:11 PM #Ray Gamble, who built the Casablanca on 2nd & Yakima, had a tunnel to smuggle building supplies from the waterfront when stuff was being rationed for WWII.
— m.i. Dec 26, 02:55 PM #An article in the 4/29/2007 Tacoma News Tribune talks about the abandanoned train tunnel through Tacoma.
Excavation was halted after the tunnelers ran into an “underground lake” that filled the tunnel faster than they could pump the water out, so they just stopped (and they found alternate rail routes).
The long forgotten partial tunnel had a few known openings, like a Tacoma bar (where the owners would toss all their trash), and a street crossing had to place reinforcements where it went over the top of the tunnel.
Otherwise it sounded like most of the tunnel was filled naturally over time (hydraulic forces) and dead-ended anyway.
Good article for anyone really interested in Tacoma underground history.
— Aaron May 5, 11:19 PM #i believe the person that shawn was referencing regarding the rust mansion was RICHARD ROMBAUER.
— wayne May 11, 03:03 AM #im a student at stadium high school and yes there are tunnles under stadium high school iv been in them there is one entrence in the floor of the pottery room its about a 3 foot hole in the floor covered by a metal plate underneath that its about a 10-14 foot drop to the bottom and then your in the tunnle on one end it goes for about 10 feet and is seld of and in the other derection it goes for about 200 feet and at one poin you hit a 5 foot drop were there is water so you half to jump across the sealings are not very high up only 5 feet high and at the end of the tunnle theres a small room iv tryed to find out what that room was for but i cant find anything but iv been down there and so have about 10 other kids so there are tunnles
— someone Jun 5, 04:17 PM #I worked on both the Broadway Mall, back in the early 70’s and the restoration of the Pantages Theater in the 80’s. And while I didn’t find any tunnels I did find something most curious when we excavated the lower side of Broadway where we found many bricked up doorways at the edge of the street, they are level with Commerce street. They were quite curious since they are some 30 feet below Broadway, but being on the company clock we didn’t get a chance to break through any of them to see what’s on the other side. But the question still looms why build doorways at the sub basement level that are 30 feet under the street? You can find them by going into the bottom levels of the existing old buildings between Commerce and Broadway. From what we heard back them the same could be found on other building on the streets of downtown. But as you have found out the history books are pretty much mute on the subject.
— Mookie Dec 19, 02:03 PM #