Document text
Polk Stuff
FORM A
Washington
Carl E. Dupuis
Tacoma
Sept. 10, 1956.
'Mysterious Chinese Tunnels'
1. Oscar Cayton, Day Island, Wash.
Taken from files of Federal Writer's Project.
Folk Stuff
FOWL 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, 1958
'Mysterious Chinese Tunnels'
William Zimmerman, 4505 S. L Street, Tacoma, Wh.
Washington
Carl E. Dupuis
Tacoma
Sept. 101 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, 1956
'Mysterious Chinese Tunnels'
V. W. Jenkins, 2812 N. Lawrence St., Tacoma, Wn.
Other information not obtainable.
Carl E. Dupuis,
603 Washington Bldg., Tacoma, Wash.
December 19, 1958.
1400 words.
AMERICAN FOLK STUFF
MYSTERIOUS CHINESE TUNNELS
(Copied from Folk -Lore and Customs previously mailed
to the State Office by Carl Dupuii
During the period from the late 1870's to 1890 Tacoma grew 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 n 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 enter-
prise 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.
-2-
nen 1 came to Tacoma in 1890 the gambling houses, cheap variety theaters
reo-
and honkytonks were still operating wide open, and continued to do so for some)time
afterwards. They were not being run as lawlessly, however, as I had been told they
had been in the 1880's.
Harry Morgan awned a gambling house, the Comique Theater and a bar, all
are•Ad
connected, at South 9th Street and Pacific Avei about where the Olympus Hotel now
stands. In the telgof 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
a
shows in his theater and paid good prices to obtain good acts. John L. Sulliw
once gave a sparring exhtbition on his stage. SullivAn hung around the place for
--Jr!
some ime 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 tIte very wealthy, but when he died his commonlaw 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,
-o0o-
Reported by William Zimmerman, 4305 S. IL' Street, Tacoma, Wash., September 102
1956. Age About 67 years.
-000-
In the spring of 1935 when the City Light Department was placing electric
power conduits under grcund„ workmen in digging a trench in the alley between
Pacific Avell; '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. !here it vent
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 50 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 yet slippery floor. The brow of
the bluff overlooking the waterfront is but a abort distance from this points
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 persona contend that these openings found in the vicinity of Tacoma were
caused by trees beim* 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 grew much in
the shape of a corkscrew.
I was also in the tunnel which has an opening in the face of the bluff below
4
the site of the old Tacoma Hotel. I went into this tunnel about 160 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 Avellrthe 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.
...000•••
Reported by V. W. Jenkins, Engineer, City Light Water Dept., who lives at 2812
N. Lawrence St., Tacoma, Wash. Age 39. Sept. 10, 1956.
In 1907, A. F. Graham and I made a thorough exploration of the Chinese tunnel
which runs from Frasier'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 twins, 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 wifficiently to permit the erection of bunks 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 eiQhalf 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, were badly rotted and had fallen down
blocking the tunnel. The cave—in was sof5t 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 it could be used for
garden lands.
—000—
Reported by Oscar Cayton, Day Island, Wash. Sept. 10, 1956.
Age about 67.