Check out the history beneath your feet in Pendleton

PENDLETON, Ore. -- My thinking is that underground tours must have officially started with the discovery of King Tut's tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in 1922.

Howard Carter's discovery of the boy king's tomb, after all, had to be the ultimate underground tour -- at least for select workers and dignitaries at the time.

In America the allure and interest in what happened underground in various cities at the turn of the 19th century and on into the 20th century has spawned a viable tourist trade of its own -- sometimes in the most unlikely of towns.

This small cow town in northeastern Oregon, famous for its fall roundup, had one of the most sophisticated operating underground tunnel networks in the country at the turn of the 19th century. The tunnels were under practically every sidewalk and building in the downtown area.

But the years of use -- and abuse -- that the tunnels served weren't well documented. Town folk at the time didn't talk much or write about what went on underground because they had reputations to protect.

Today part of the original underground tunnel network is open for business -- but only for the tourist trade this time. The gamblers, prostitutes and other shady characters that frequented the underground society are gone. What life underground was like back then has been resurrected by the non-profit Pendleton Underground Tours Inc., situated on Emigrant Avenue in Pendleton's Historic District.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

Tunnel visitors sit under one of the glass prism grates that were built into the sidewalks above to light the underground tunnels. They were walked on but usually ignored.

The tour covers what was called the red-light district -- a place that for many years town folk wouldn't allow their children to visit, and for good reason.

As much information as the tour founders could gather from newspaper reports, personal testimony and census studies helped them piece together what went on underground. It wasn't pretty.

Even at the time, when the population was only about 2,500, citizens understood mysterious things happened underground that, for a variety of reasons, couldn't or shouldn't have happened above ground.

The thinking at the time was if illicit activities were underground, they were, as the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind. Telltale signs above ground that the tunnels even existed were generally disregarded for years. Glass prism inserts were installed in the sidewalks to light the underground haunts. They were walked on but usually ignored.

An underground network of holding areas and tunnels under buildings in Portland, commonly called "Shanghai Tunnels," was used to hide kidnapped workers for the maritime trade or hide women who eventually were sold into prostitution by white slavers. The unpleasantness is open for tours.

Several years ago, Port Angeles tried to save its underground heritage from the wrecking ball.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

A tour group is briefed on the history of the second-floor of the Hendricks Building in downtown Pendleton. Madam Stella Darby operated what she called "cozy rooms" in the building until it was shut down in 1953.

The Seattle underground tours have drawn thousands of tourists over the years. The underground tours cover a three-block area of Pioneer Square.

Port Townsend Historical Society even features an underground, turn-of-the-19th-century jail open to visitors.

Before our tour group headed "downstairs" in Pendleton, our knowledgeable and funny leader, Debbie Helfrecht, who's been guiding the tours for a dozen years, told us a little bit of the shady history of the Shamrock Card Room we were about to visit. The card room sign is faint on the outside brick wall of the Empire Building, built in 1907, which now houses the tour office and adjacent gift shop. The building also is one of three historically significant buildings on the block owned and operated by Pendleton Underground Tours.

When Pendleton Underground Tours was proposed, city leaders took issue with how much of the town's bawdy history the tourists would -- or should -- be exposed to. The truth might not be good for the town's image, they argued.

Bootlegging during Prohibition and prostitution were common underground, but the city became uneasy in 1990 when the tour opened the "Cozy Rooms" bordello, the Chinese jail and the opium den. History is history, argued the tour backers, and it's good for tourism. Eventually the backers won the argument. Pendleton Underground Tours is in its 15th year.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

With a mannequin bartender by her side, guide Debbie Hefrecht explains the shady side of the Shamrock Card Room.

Tour groups are formed by reservations only. You can call the toll-free number and pay by credit card or show up and pay the $10 charge in person. You can wander off and visit the Pendleton Woolen Mills or the nearby museum, have lunch, then return if your tour group is scheduled in the afternoon. Children must be 6 years old or older (you may want to plug their ears when the tour reaches the above-ground brothel, operated until 1953 by madam Stella Darby).

The underground tour doors open at 10 a.m. Since I was early, I decided to have breakfast at the tidy, above-ground Cookie Tree Bakery and Cafe across the street. Diced ham and eggs, toast and coffee, all for $4.20, helped me make it through the 90-minute tour.

During the tour, a lot of what visitors see is part fact and part fiction. Many of the fixtures throughout the tunnels were donated from elsewhere but are accurate historically. Some of the businesses may have been underground in different parts of town at one point, but they have been placed together in the tour tunnels to give visitors a good representation of what they probably were like.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

Tourists lounge in one of the basalt-rock rooms and adjacent tunnel as part of the Pendleton Underground Tours. Most of the basalt-rock tunnels and rooms were built by Chinese laborers.

Again, only the original inhabitants knew what it was really like underground. The spectacular basalt-rock tunnels, mostly built by Chinese laborers who had worked on the railroad, have been cleaned up and probably look better now then they did in the 1890s when they were built. Many of the original tunnels in other parts of downtown have been filled in or blocked off over the years as the town modernized.

Whether the Pendleton Underground Tour is historically accurate is beside the point. The stories and legends handed down over the years about the raucous lifestyle are what make it special. The displays just help kindle the imagination.

As I looked for a spot to rest as we entered Hop Sing's Laundry, I noticed -- just in time -- a sign on a rickety bed I was about sit on that said, "Please do not sit on Hop Sing's bed." Oops!

Playing off the fact that Pendleton at one time hosted 18 bordellos, Pendleton Underground Tours now owns The Working Girls Hotel (W.G. Hotel) a few doors down from the office. The historically significant hotel features a suite and four sleeping rooms all with 18-foot ceilings and Victorian decor. No children or pets are allowed because of the fragile nature of the decor. They rent rooms for $50 to $70 a night, depending on the season (almost Victorian rates too).

Pendleton Underground Tours -- 37 S.W. Emigrant St.; 800-226-6398. By reservation only, Monday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m., depending on demand. Tours last 90 minutes. Cost: $10 per person. Information: www.pendletonundergroundtours.org.

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