Shanghai Tunnels

The `Portland Underground` tunnels, more popularly known as the `Shanghai Tunnels`, were basements of buildings that connected to other buildings through brick and stone archways that were intersected with tunnels that connected under the streets, linking block to block. These `catacombs` or `tombs`, as they were sometimes called, created a unique network of passages and thoroughfares that were used by unscrupulous individuals called `shanghaiiers` or `crimps`, in addition to `white slavers` who grabbed women and sold them into prostitution.

Venture into the `Portland Underground` to see remnants of this shocking maritime history — unique architecture, underground holding cells, a `deadfall` trapdoor, unearthed artifacts of this terrible, misguided labor practice, and more. This is a unique opportunity to learn about the secret history of shanghaiing.

For more information, visit the website below or contact the Cascade Geographic Society.