America's Most Dangerous City
At one time, this great city that we know today as Portland, Oregon, was a river town whose beginnings we often look upon as being nothing more than a humble Victorian settlement. But in the later part of the 19th century and at the turn of the 20th century, America was home to one of the most dangerous vice-filled cities in the world, and the most dangerous in America, Portland Oregon!
Portland, Oregon, the Victorian-refined "City of Roses", earned the reputation of being the "Shanghai Capital of the World". Ship captains paid bartenders to drug single intoxicated men that hung out in the waterfront area in order to lure them into the dark tunnels. Thousands of them found themselves in the clutches of shanghaiers and crimps that either forcibly grabbed them off the streets, or slipped "knockout drops" in their saloon, pool hall, and gambling parlor drinks. They were hauled out of opium dens and houses of prostitution, or cleverly dropped through "deadfalls". The term "Shanghai" was commonly used as most of the ships involved in this act were destined for the orient.
Portland was unique because trap doors (known as "deadfalls") were used to drop the unsuspecting victims into the "Portland Underground", where they were forcibly held in cells until the ship was ready to set sail. The catacombs, which "snaked" their way beneath the streets of what we now call Old Town, Skidmore Fountain, and Chinatown, helped to create an infamous history that became "cloaked" in myth, superstition, and fear. With the cooperation of police, politicians, and big business leaders, these riverfront neighborhoods became more notorious than the 'Barbary Coast' (the red light district of San Francisco).
Women, in early Portland's history, had to also be cautious when venturing into certain areas of the city. They were warned not to go to dances and to stay out of restaurants, saloons, and other establishments of the evening, They, too, became victims of this shadowy part of the city's history, and found themselves being carried or dragged through this infamous "network" of wharf rat-dominated shanghai tunnels, and, unfortunately, sold into "white slavery". Like a "speck of dust", most of these women just seemed to vanish and were never heard from again.
The victims were held captive in small brick cells or makeshift wood and tin prisons until they were sold to the sea captains. A sea captain who needed additional men to fill his crew notified the shanghaiers that he was ready to set sail in the early-morning hours, and would purchase the men for $50 a head. "Knock-out drops" were then slipped into the confined victim's food or water.
Unconscious, they were then taken through a network of tunnels that "snaked" their way under the city all the way to the waterfront. They were placed aboard ships and didn't awake until many hours later, after they had "crossed the bar" into the Pacific Ocean. It took many of these men as long as two full voyages --- that's six years --- to get back to Portland. During the "heyday" of shanghaiing, a minimum of 1500 people per year were shanghaied out of Portland. The remnants of Portland's infamous history of the "Shanghai Tunnels" and the "Portland Underground" is still with us. The stories have lingered, along with the rubble, the trapdoors, the secret entrances, and the catacombs that still extend their presence beneath the sidewalks, streets and buildings. You can see the surviving artifacts of this shocking history of shanghaiing and view the remnants of these infamous secret catacombs that earned Portland such a dubious reputation.
Tours are available to see sections of the Portland Underground, but that is a completely different tour. (Cascade Geographic Society - 503-622-4798)
Portland was unique because trap doors (known as "deadfalls") were used to drop the unsuspecting victims into the "Portland Underground", where they were forcibly held in cells until the ship was ready to set sail. The catacombs, which "snaked" their way beneath the streets of what we now call Old Town, Skidmore Fountain, and Chinatown, helped to create an infamous history that became "cloaked" in myth, superstition, and fear. With the cooperation of police, politicians, and big business leaders, these riverfront neighborhoods became more notorious than the 'Barbary Coast' (the red light district of San Francisco).
Women, in early Portland's history, had to also be cautious when venturing into certain areas of the city. They were warned not to go to dances and to stay out of restaurants, saloons, and other establishments of the evening, They, too, became victims of this shadowy part of the city's history, and found themselves being carried or dragged through this infamous "network" of wharf rat-dominated shanghai tunnels, and, unfortunately, sold into "white slavery". Like a "speck of dust", most of these women just seemed to vanish and were never heard from again.
The victims were held captive in small brick cells or makeshift wood and tin prisons until they were sold to the sea captains. A sea captain who needed additional men to fill his crew notified the shanghaiers that he was ready to set sail in the early-morning hours, and would purchase the men for $50 a head. "Knock-out drops" were then slipped into the confined victim's food or water.
Unconscious, they were then taken through a network of tunnels that "snaked" their way under the city all the way to the waterfront. They were placed aboard ships and didn't awake until many hours later, after they had "crossed the bar" into the Pacific Ocean. It took many of these men as long as two full voyages --- that's six years --- to get back to Portland. During the "heyday" of shanghaiing, a minimum of 1500 people per year were shanghaied out of Portland. The remnants of Portland's infamous history of the "Shanghai Tunnels" and the "Portland Underground" is still with us. The stories have lingered, along with the rubble, the trapdoors, the secret entrances, and the catacombs that still extend their presence beneath the sidewalks, streets and buildings. You can see the surviving artifacts of this shocking history of shanghaiing and view the remnants of these infamous secret catacombs that earned Portland such a dubious reputation.
Tours are available to see sections of the Portland Underground, but that is a completely different tour. (Cascade Geographic Society - 503-622-4798)
