Seattle Underground


Seattles History is as rich as its Ghost Stories.
The Seattle Underground is no exception when it came to stories from the first Pioneers
to the shop keepers as they tell the tales of the Seattle Undergrounds' ghosts.

We recently went on the tour and listened to our hostess tell stories about Seattle Pioneers settling in our wet area. The trials and tribulations to discovering that the regions land not only needed taming, but engineering ideas to the modern convienances.

New convienant ideas to bathroom facilities didn't wash well with the land and tides from Puget Sound. Many problems arose with the sewage systems abilities to flush raw sewage into the sound, when tides came in and out. Within many years of constant work and development, the modern convienances became more user friendly when the landscapes of old Seattle was excavated to higher ground to accomadate modern technology.


West Coast cities, because of their rag-tag pioneer histories, have some bizarre development stories. Seattle is no exception. The story of how there came to be a weird ghost town under Pioneer Square is pretty complicated. In a nutshell, the original city was laid out on some tidal mudflats. Not smart. The sewage problems that resulted were...uh...explosive. Then, in 1889, a devastating fire swept through the downtown area (Pioneer Square) and, as a result, many buildings were lost. The city found itself with the opportunity to rebuild and address its stinky problems. It was decided that the city would rebuild at a higher level to solve the tidal sewage problems. Street levels were raised in anticipation of a future landfill. In the interim, footpaths and buildings remained at pre-fire levels. Huh? Exactly.

After Old Seattles fire set demise, and the underground part of Seattle left in ruins, the New Seattle was built over the old Historic Underground Town.

Preserving the tunnels over the years has been difficult, but needed to be done so as the new city wouldn't crumble into the land. Until in recent years, the underground wasn't accessable to the public, until Bill Speidel cleaned up many of the areas now safe to walk through when you go on the tour.



Visit the spooky city that lies beneath Seattle's present street level where you'll learn how the Underground was created. The subterranean walkways are dry, but the history is not. Learn about Seattle's colorful past; how our Founding Fathers' squabbling led to Seattle's complicated street system, and how the solutions to our unique plumbing problems affected the town's elevation.


Relax in Doc Maynard's, a restored 1890's public house, where you'll hear the first part of the tour. From there, your guide will lead you along the sidewalks of Pioneer Square and into the areas below, which have been vacant since 1907.
The tour starts at Doc Maynards, 610 first avenue.


Bill Speidels Underground Tours times

Photos from our second visit on August 10th.
Members present while we were with the WSGS, were,
Frank, Francine, Patricia, Cat, Laurie, Ken, Susan, Lisa, Barb and Maureen.

Photos by Cat, Patricia and Maureen.