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Mysterious Chinese
Tunnels
(Washington)
Folk Stuff
FORM A
Washington
Carl E. Dupuis
Tacoma
Sept. 10, 1936.
'Mysterious Chinese Tunnels'
1. Oscar Cayton, Day Island, Wash.
Taken from files of Federal Writer's Project.
FORM B
Washington
Carl E. Dupuis
Tacoma
Sept. 10, 1936.
Mysterious Chinese Tunnels
Oscar Cayton, Day Island, Wash.
1. (Other information not obtainable)
Washington
Carl E. Dupuis
Tacoma
Dec. 19, 1938
'Mysterious Chinese Tunnels'
William Zimmerman, 4305 S. L Street, Tacoma, Wn.
Washington
Carl E. Dupuis
Tacoma
Sept. 10, 1936
Mysterious Chinese Tunnels
V. W. Jenkins 2812 N. Lawrence St., Tacoma, Wn.
No other facts in regard to interview available.
Washington
Carl E. Dupuis
Tacoma
Sept. 10, 1936
'Mysterious Chinese Tunnels'
V. W. Jenkins, 2812 M. Lawrence St., Tacoma, Wn.
Other information not obtainable.
Carl E. Dupuis,
603 Washington Bldg., Tacoma, Wash.
December 19, 1938.
1400 words.
AMERICAN FOLK STUFF
MYSTERIOUS CHINESE TUNNELS
(Copied from Folk-lore and Customs previously mailed to the State Office
by Carl Dupuis.
During the period from the late 1870's to 1890 Tacoma grow from a village
of a few hundred people to a city of 36,000 population.
The construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad required large numbers
of railroad laborers, which included many Chinese coolies. After
construction was completed the released laborers congregated in the
growing cities of Puget Sound. The rapidly growing city of Tacoma received
more than its share.
The Chinese went to work in the lumber and shingle mills, as domestics,
and acquired a monopoly of the laundry business. Immigration of Chinese
was forbidden by law, but they continued to arrive mysteriously, smuggled
in on ships, and even in Indian canoes, from British Columbia. This was a
lucrative dark-to-dawn business for the white smugglers, who charged as
high as $100 a head for each celestial passenger. Some of the white
employers were uncritical of this illegal traffic, as Chinese laborers
worked cheaper and were more tractable than the white riffraff that
graduated from the construction camps.
Some of the Chinese started small businesses, some of which were of a
nefarious nature. Several opium joints were known to be operating in
Tacoma. And there was no question in the minds of many people that the
narcotic was smuggled in through tunnels from their dens to cleverly
hidden exits near the waterfront. They were also convinced that the
tunnels were dug by Chinese, either as a personal enterprise or at the
behest of white men of the underworld, as no white workmen would burrow
the devious mole-like passageways and keep their labors secret.
The Chinese were forcibly expelled from Tacoma in 1885, but ever so often
the story of the Chinese tunnels bobs up whenever workmen come across them
in excavation work.
-oOo-
When I came to Tacoma in 1890 the gambling houses, cheap variety theaters
and honkytonks were still operating wide open, and continued to do so for
sometime afterwards. They were not being run as lawlessly, however, as I
had been told they had been in the 1880's.
Harry Morgan owned a gambling house, the Comique Theater and a bar, all
connected, at South 9th Street and Pacific Avenue about where the Olympus
Hotel now stands. In the rear of his place he had screened booths on a
balcony where loggers and sailors were served by Jezebels, and they were
frequently drugged and robbed of their rolls. It was a tough joint, and
the gamblers, bartenders and bouncers working for Morgan were a vicious
lot. Morgan employed a fine band and he would have it play on a balcony
over the theater entrance to attract crowds. He put on good shows in his
theater and paid good prices to obtain good acts. John L. Sullivun once
gave a sparring exhibition on his stage. Sullivun hung around the place
for some time associating with the sporting element and made quite a hit
while he was here.
It was common talk on the streets that a tunnel ran from Morgan's place to
the waterfront, and that it was used for smuggling Chinese at so much a
head, narcotics and for shanghaiing sailors.
Morgan was supposed to be very wealthy, but when he died his common-law
wife got only the jewels which he had given her. She tried to get
possession of the rest of his wealth, but was told by Morgan's associates
that there was only enough left to pay his debts. She accused those in
charge of the estate of robbing it, but nothing was ever proven. She
married Jumbo Cantwell, a huge man with tremendous hands, who was one of
Morgan's bouncers and went with him to Chicago when Jumbo led the Tacoma
contingent of Coxey's Army. Cantwell got the Morgan jewels away from his
wife and she left him and returned to Seattle. Later Cantwell became a
member of the city council of Chicago.
I was told that there was a tunnel from the-Waterfront to the St. Charles
Hotel situated on the present site of the Elk's Temple, which was used for
smuggling in Chinese and narcotics.
-oOo-
Reported by William Zimmerman, 4305 S. 'L' Street, Tacoma, Wash.,
September 10, 1936. Age about 67 years.
-oOo-
In the spring of 1935 when the City Light Department was placing electric
power conduits under ground, workmen in digging a trench in the alley
between Pacific Avenue and 'A' Street at a point about 75 feet south of
7th Street, just back of the State Hotel, crosscut an old tunnel about ten
feet below the surface of the ground. This tunnel was about three feet
wide by five feet high, and tended in a southwesterly direction under the
State Hotel, and in the opposite direction southeasterly toward
Commencement Bay. I entered the tunnel and walked about 40 or 50 feet in
each direction from the opening which we had encountered. There it went
under the hotel the tunnel dipped sharply to pass under the concrete
footings of the rear wall, proving that the tunnel was dug after the hotel
had been built. In the other direction the tunnel had a sharp turn to the
left, and after several feet, a gradual curve to the right, so that it was
again tending in the same direction as at the opening. About 30 feet from
the opening on the Bay side the tunnel began to dip and in another ten
feet began to decline very sharply so that it would have been necessary to
use a rope to descend safely on the wet slippery floor. The brow of the
bluff overlooking the waterfront is but a short distance from this point,
explaining the need for the rapid downward slope, although it is probable
that farther on there is a turn, either right or left, and that the tunnel
was dug at an easier grade before emerging at a lower level.
Some persons contend that these openings found in the vicinity of Tacoma
were caused by trees buried in the glacial age, and after decaying, left
the openings in the glacial drift. If this is the true explanation for the
tunnel I have described, then the tree that made it must have been a giant
that grow such in the shape of a corkscrew.
I was also in the tunnel which has an opening in the face of the bluff
below the site of the old Tacoma Hotel. I went into this tunnel about 150
feet after the hotel fire, and was stopped by a cave-in, evidently caused
by the great volume of water used in extinguishing the fire. There is a
branch in this tunnel, one leading straight toward Pacific Avenue and the
other turning to the right. The right turn may have been a continuation of
the tunnel we encountered at South 7th Street, but there was no
possibility of verifying this.
-oOo-
Reported by V. W. Jenkins, Engineer, City Light & Water Dept., who lives
at 2812 N. Lawrence St., Tacoma, Wash. Age 39. Sept. 10, 1936.
In 1907, A. F. Graham and I made a thorough exploration of the Chinese
tunnel which runs from Frazier's Swamp near Regents Park Addition to
Tacoma. This tunnel leads in a westerly direction. This area around the
swamp is known by many as the Chinese Gardens, although others say there
never were any Chinese gardens in this vicinity. When we were there,
however, in 1907, there were still the ruins of several buildings or
shacks. The roofs had fallen in, but rotting floors and a few decayed
studding of the sidewalls still remained. The surrounding ground also had
the appearance of having been cultivated at one time.
We took with us several candles and a large roll of seine twine, as we did
not know whether there would be branches in the tunnel, and wanted to be
sure haw to retrace our steps.
We found the tunnel well constructed, timbered where the ground was soft
and untimbered where it was dug through hardpan. At two or three points
the tunnel was widened sufficiently to permit the erection of banks and
there were rotted remains of wooden bunks still there. At these widened
places we found several pieces of broken dishes, a few pieces of Chinese
money and some paper-bound books in Chinese characters. We were careful
not to touch the timbering, and proceeded carefully so we would not cause
a cave-in.
We went in fully half a mile where we found the tunnel stopped by a
cave-in. The tunnel up to this point was dry, but here it was wet, and the
timbers, which here were necessary because of the soft earth, more badly
rotted and had fallen down blocking the tunnel. The cave-in was soft and
mucky, so we concluded this part of the tunnel passed under swampy ground.
Some persons believe this tunnel extends through to the beach on The
Narrows, and that it was used for smuggling Chinese and narcotics, but so
far as I know no opening on the beach has ever been found that connects
with this tunnel. It is my belief that it was dug by Chinese to drain
Frazier's Swamp so that it could be used for garden lands.
-oOo-
Reported by Oscar Cayton, Day Island, Wash. Sept. 10, 1936.
Age about 67.
Text from: Library of
Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection
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