Pendleton Underground Tours_2021 08 16_0889
Pendleton Underground Tours ( P.U.T.) is a non-profit corporation that started in 1989, giving tours of Pendleton’s red light district. The tour was very controversial because part of the subject matter is about gambling, the Chinese, bootlegging and prostitution. In 1990, after opening the “Cozy Rooms” bordello, Chinese jails and the Opium Den, the tour became even more questionable. The history of legal and illegal businesses operating in the same area for over 100 years makes the tour unique and like no other tour anywhere. The history of the Chinese in Eastern Oregon and their role in building the west is also unique. The tour is entertaining and interesting to all ages from 6 years old to 95 years old there is something for every member of the family. P.U.T. has become Eastern Oregon’s #1 year around tourist attraction. A tour that people once questioned, has now been featured on television and radio shows around the world. The great success and popularity of P.U.T. is the wonderful well-trained and educated Historians who guide tourists back in time to learn history that isn’t taught in school, but was very much a part of the early west and the lives of our ancestors. According to P.U.T. nothing is artificial or fabricated / Pendleton is a city and the county seat of Umatilla County, Oregon. A European-American commercial center began to develop here in 1851, when Dr. William C. McKay established a trading post at the mouth of McKay Creek. A United States Post Office named Marshall (for the owner, and sometime gambler, of another local store) was established April 21, 1865, and later renamed Pendleton, after politician and diplomat George H. Pendleton (1825–1889), who served as a U.S. Representative and Senator from Ohio. The city was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 25, 1880. By 1900, Pendleton was the fourth-largest city in Oregon. The Pendleton Woolen Mills and Pendleton Round Up became features of the city captured in early paintings by Walter S. Bowman. Like many cities in Eastern Oregon, where thousands of Chinese immigrant workers built the transcontinental railroad, it had a flourishing Chinatown that developed as the workers settled here. The sector is supposed to have been underlain by a network of tunnels, which are now a tourist attraction. The authenticity as a Chinese tunnel system has been questioned. The town is the cultural center of Eastern Oregon. Pendleton's "Old town" is listed as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) have their property nearby. They have established the Wildhorse Resort & Casino and golf course on the reservation to generate revenue for development and welfare. They have also built the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, for education and interpretation of their cultures. Pendleton Woolen Mills is a maker of wool blankets, shirts, and an assortment of other woolen goods. Founded in 1909 by Clarence, Roy and Chauncey Bishop, the company built upon earlier businesses related to the many sheep ranches in the region. A wool-scouring plant opened in Pendleton in 1893 to wash raw wool for shipping. In 1895, the scouring mill was converted into a mill that made wool blankets and robes for Native Americans. Both businesses failed to survive, but the Bishops, with the help of a local bond issue, enlarged the mill and improved its efficiency. They developed a successful line of garments and blankets with "vivid colors and intricate patterns."
Pendleton Underground Tours_2021 08 16_0889
Pendleton Underground Tours ( P.U.T.) is a non-profit corporation that started in 1989, giving tours of Pendleton’s red light district. The tour was very controversial because part of the subject matter is about gambling, the Chinese, bootlegging and prostitution. In 1990, after opening the “Cozy Rooms” bordello, Chinese jails and the Opium Den, the tour became even more questionable. The history of legal and illegal businesses operating in the same area for over 100 years makes the tour unique and like no other tour anywhere. The history of the Chinese in Eastern Oregon and their role in building the west is also unique. The tour is entertaining and interesting to all ages from 6 years old to 95 years old there is something for every member of the family. P.U.T. has become Eastern Oregon’s #1 year around tourist attraction. A tour that people once questioned, has now been featured on television and radio shows around the world. The great success and popularity of P.U.T. is the wonderful well-trained and educated Historians who guide tourists back in time to learn history that isn’t taught in school, but was very much a part of the early west and the lives of our ancestors. According to P.U.T. nothing is artificial or fabricated / Pendleton is a city and the county seat of Umatilla County, Oregon. A European-American commercial center began to develop here in 1851, when Dr. William C. McKay established a trading post at the mouth of McKay Creek. A United States Post Office named Marshall (for the owner, and sometime gambler, of another local store) was established April 21, 1865, and later renamed Pendleton, after politician and diplomat George H. Pendleton (1825–1889), who served as a U.S. Representative and Senator from Ohio. The city was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 25, 1880. By 1900, Pendleton was the fourth-largest city in Oregon. The Pendleton Woolen Mills and Pendleton Round Up became features of the city captured in early paintings by Walter S. Bowman. Like many cities in Eastern Oregon, where thousands of Chinese immigrant workers built the transcontinental railroad, it had a flourishing Chinatown that developed as the workers settled here. The sector is supposed to have been underlain by a network of tunnels, which are now a tourist attraction. The authenticity as a Chinese tunnel system has been questioned. The town is the cultural center of Eastern Oregon. Pendleton's "Old town" is listed as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) have their property nearby. They have established the Wildhorse Resort & Casino and golf course on the reservation to generate revenue for development and welfare. They have also built the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, for education and interpretation of their cultures. Pendleton Woolen Mills is a maker of wool blankets, shirts, and an assortment of other woolen goods. Founded in 1909 by Clarence, Roy and Chauncey Bishop, the company built upon earlier businesses related to the many sheep ranches in the region. A wool-scouring plant opened in Pendleton in 1893 to wash raw wool for shipping. In 1895, the scouring mill was converted into a mill that made wool blankets and robes for Native Americans. Both businesses failed to survive, but the Bishops, with the help of a local bond issue, enlarged the mill and improved its efficiency. They developed a successful line of garments and blankets with "vivid colors and intricate patterns."