These are a series of 1800s underground tunnels that are located just below Seattle City in Washington. The tunnels were abandoned and left to deteriorate after the community was relocated to higher ground. A fire nearly burned the entire town, which was largely made up of wood and log cottages, prompting the decision to raise the town.

Burning City

Fire raced across the budding city in 1889, destroying many of the wood structures in the business sector. The incident was commonly blamed on a negligent worker heating glue over a gas burner, catching the furnishings and floor in a cabinetry shop on fire. The city was founded on the forestry industry, therefore much of the original city was made of wood, and only a small portion of it survived the fires that burned 31 blocks. Following the fire, new building rules mandated the use of stone and brick during the rebuilding phase, the decision was made to raise the city streets above the swampy grounds. To build new roadways, retaining walls were built beside the streets and filled with dirt.

Cut off from the outside world

The city condemned the basement floors in 1907 when there was widespread fear of the bubonic plague. Many basements were emptied and left to rot and deteriorate or utilized solely for storage. However, a tiny piece of the underground construction remained operational and was utilized as flophouses for the homeless, while some buildings were converted into speakeasies, opium dens, and gambling operations. The catacombs basement became the city's "underground," a haven for junkies, gambling addicts, and all manner of criminal activity. And it stayed that way, cut off from the "outside world," until the 1950s when the story of how the Seattle Underground was saved began.

Underground attraction site

In the 1950s, Seattle native Bill Speidel launched a campaign to rescue the run-down Pioneer Square neighborhood, primarily on the strength of the subterranean city tale. He started conducting guided tours in 1965, and his firm still does so today. Since then, competing tours have emerged, each presenting a somewhat different perspective on the subterranean. Visitors may take a guided walking tour under Seattle's sidewalks and streets, visiting the subterranean tubes that were formerly key thoroughfares and first-floor businesses in ancient downtown Seattle.

The tour guides tell anecdotes about the city's colorful and shady history. The excursions take visitors through three underground blocks, passing via a historic bar, shopfronts, and a hotel. The building has several traces of lead and asbestos that are hazardous when inhaled by unsuspecting visitors. Though the managing body tries to make sure that all the tourists get out of the underground safely, being responsible and cautious throughout the tour might be the safest way to avoid unplanned accidents.