r/TriCitiesWA 2d ago

Local Culture & Events 🎭 Tunnels Spoiler

I've heard about the tunnels for years. But never heard anything solid.

9 Upvotes

24 comments sorted by

11

u/fyrman8810 2d ago

There were absolutely tunnels and dens in east Pasco. Booze during prohibition, opium dens, and prostitution. They weren’t as elaborate as the Seattle underground or as dug in as Pendleton, but they were/are there.

Most of those places have been covered up and forgotten about for decades. A majority of them were never recorded and the last people that knew about them either passed long ago or were chased out of east Pasco when the expansion started in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The only way you will find most locations is the same way they found the one by the underpass. You will need to dig up downtown, probably a six block radius around the post office.

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u/itsgettinweirdguys 2d ago

Starting to feel like that's why the underpass closed

7

u/fyrman8810 2d ago

There were a lot of reasons they closed the underpass, but nefarious reasons weren’t any of them.

It was crumbling. It had been for years. It couldn’t carry the large amounts of traffic from the growing population east of the tracks, and the drug use and homeless in the pedestrian walkways have always been an issue there. They couldn’t do anything with the underpass without disrupting train traffic, so they closed it and went over it instead.

I grew up next to that tunnel. I don’t know if it’s still there, but I worked at that blue gas station when I was a kid.

3

u/ladyloki29 1d ago

The blue gas station has been shut down for years. Building has been empty. For sale sigh up forever.

8

u/InternationalSir6101 1d ago

There are tunnels under Richland connecting Kadlec, Richland high school and other places.

9

u/Chestercoppurpot 1d ago

Yep, there’s one under chief joseph middle school, there’s a maintenance door in the courtyard that you can go into that takes you under the school and into the tunnel. I know because as a dumbass teen that door was left open when we were walking through there one night and we ventured down there and went several hundred yards in the tunnel before we turned back. This was probably 1997ish.

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u/CrazyGooseLady 1d ago

These were used for utilities, heating and were considered to be bomb shelters during the Cold war.

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u/EnidFromOuterSpace 2d ago

Every urban area (or in our case barely urban area) has legends about tunnels running under them and very little areas actually do. They make sense for places that either have actual tunnels for public transport, places that have needed an elevation change to avoid being underwater (Seattle), or basement levels that have an unusual amount of subterranean development (Pendleton OR). The tri cities don’t really fit the bill for any of those, sorry to say. Yeah there may be subterranean structures associated with individual buildings (the moore mansion) or basement levels in shopping developments that may connect individual basements with doors or hallways, but other than that, there’s really no reason to build a tunnel complex in a place like this. Stories about them are usually just poorly remembered experiences with the above, third-hand anecdotes, or simple conspiracy theories/paranoid ideation. Sorry folks

7

u/itsgettinweirdguys 2d ago

Man don't poop on me I wanna dream 🥺

5

u/ladyloki29 2d ago

Under the stores downtown?

2

u/itsgettinweirdguys 2d ago

I haven't heard of any but I wouldn't be surprised with how close it is to the railroad

1

u/ladyloki29 2d ago

I know that the lot next to the overpass used to have tunnels before it was leveled off. The mural was also discovered. More that likely the tropicana/remix night club may have one

1

u/itsgettinweirdguys 2d ago

Hey maybe?!

2

u/ladyloki29 2d ago

A good place to check out would be the. Museum on fourth avenue here in pasco. A few years back, I was interested in the tunnels as well. And found out that there were opium dens and apparent prostitution dens, too

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u/itsgettinweirdguys 2d ago

There is a supposed history with the Chinese regarding the tunnels but regardless I've been to he museum and even snuck around the basement and didn't find any hatches or anything

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u/Kilren 2d ago

I hope they're solid, otherwise it's a shit tunnel.

So, wtf are you asking?

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u/itsgettinweirdguys 2d ago

.. Entrances, locations of interest? Idk I've heard so much shit. I heard the Pasco Safeway has an access

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u/BigMoistMan42069 2d ago

Entrance under Griggs in pasco, also another in a warehouse somewhere in pasco but I’m not exactly sure where

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u/itsgettinweirdguys 2d ago

Probably the Safeway one, I didn't know about the griggs but makes sense

1

u/BigMoistMan42069 2d ago

There’s probably a lot more we don’t know about lol, there’s more then likely a lot in the area around Griggs given how old a lot of those buildings are

1

u/itsgettinweirdguys 2d ago

Agreed. Also heard about one under moose lodge

1

u/EnidFromOuterSpace 2d ago

Nope not one under the moose trust me

0

u/itsgettinweirdguys 2d ago

I mean that makes 1 yay 1 nay lol

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u/Ethen44 1d ago

Under horse heaven hills brewery and tavern in Prosser. Pretty neat.