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UER Mobile > Canada: Alberta / BC > Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels. (Viewed 1893694 times)

post by Ferrum

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2840 on 10/28/2009 7:19 AM >

Nice shots, SSIgirl. Nice dog too.

Post by Mowgli-dog

A common thread, that.

Yeah, everyone likes to talk like they know stuff. Most of it is hearsay.

The people who are in the know do not spread it around.

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post by TacDical

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2841 on 10/28/2009 4:46 PM >

The people who are in the know do not spread it around.

I hear that man why tell when you can keep it for yourself, this guy has been threw alot of shit in his life being a street kid here, it took a bit of prying to get info outta him, but it sounded real due to ive heard similar stories (but unlike his) he never boast's about it or nothing and told me he didn't want to show me it took about two month's just to get him to agree to show us let alone come with, i guess that one is spoiled, im going to try him again the night before haloween (the night he originally planned on going down. after that tho no more stories. i also know another crack head who says she doesn't know where any are but she's sure like 100% sure her friend's know where a few are, but she assured me that there is no way they would be willing to tell me or show me anything. (as i have no reason to be down there), but they do?
SD

[last edit 10/28/2009 4:47 PM by TacDical - edited 1 times]

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post by SteamPunk

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2842 on 11/12/2009 10:42 AM >

Less than 3 weeks to go 'till I move to the Mid-Island!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

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post by KublaKhan

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2843 on 11/12/2009 5:06 PM >

Posted by SteamPunk
Less than 3 weeks to go 'till I move to the Mid-Island!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

Just enough time for me to place that C4 order, and to stock up on non-perishables and ammunition. Thanks for the heads up.

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post by Agent Skelly

Web Sheriff

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2844 on 11/12/2009 6:42 PM >

Posted by KublaKhan

Just enough time for me to place that C4 order, and to stock up on non-perishables and ammunition. Thanks for the heads up.

Don't forget to get a chastity belt on all the women you know...

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post by KublaKhan

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2845 on 11/12/2009 8:01 PM >

Posted by Agent Skelly

Don't forget to get a chastity belt on all the women you know...

The women I know are safe. I'm worried about my own chastity.

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post by TacDical

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2846 on 11/18/2009 5:28 PM >

*cough* *cough* thing's seem to be getting quiet

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post by -blitzkrieg-

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2847 on 11/20/2009 5:14 PM >

rain rain go away?

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post by SteamPunk

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2848 on 11/21/2009 5:19 AM >

Drove through Duncan today, it was messed up.

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post by TacDical

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2849 on 11/22/2009 10:35 PM >

i hear it was crazy flooded up there like people in cowichin were canoeing to work

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post by mikejpc

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2850 on 11/23/2009 5:09 AM >

click to view

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post by yellow_wallpaper

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2851 on 11/23/2009 10:21 AM >

Posted by mikejpc

click to view

Awesome picture!

From my understanding, they were passages from business basements to the docks. They made transporting things ^{*cough* Opium *cough*} a lot easier. I am curious though... Was the water level different back then? I'm guessing this was built before the bog was filled & subsequent Empress built?

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post by mikejpc

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2852 on 11/23/2009 12:10 PM >

Here is the photo again, but in greater detail.

http://www.flickr....127171803/sizes/o/

From the info that I have, the b&w photo was taken in the early 1970's. Perhaps some of these transport passages were still exposed during this time?

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post by TacDical

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2853 on 11/23/2009 4:50 PM >

hmm great picture that is interesting
ima go take a look at that wall when im off after im done with store st

[last edit 11/23/2009 4:55 PM by TacDical - edited 1 times]

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post by KublaKhan

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2854 on 11/23/2009 5:22 PM >

Posted by yellow_wallpaper

Awesome picture!

From my understanding, they were passages from business basements to the docks. They made transporting things ^{*cough* Opium *cough*} a lot easier. I am curious though... Was the water level different back then? I'm guessing this was built before the bog was filled & subsequent Empress built?

Once again, there was no need to smuggle opium into the city, as it was perfectly legal to produce it. Opium was made in Victoria. There were legal opium dens. It was not a crime to manufacture/possess/sell/use opium. That came later, and after much of the tunnels system was already in place.

Given the volume of cash currency/bonds/certificates for exchange, etc. that came into and out of the city, and given that it was not exactly safe to move said items above ground from point A to point B, the tunnels were most certainly used to move this stuff underground.

There was also a pretty decent trade in indentured labour...human smuggling was reasonably common (as it is to this day...here, in Victoria. Yes...human trafficking in Victoria in this present day and age). However, given that as a port city people were coming and going at all hours...ships were sailing into harbour on every hour of the day going for months...thousands of people passed through Victoria with no intention of staying...it's doubtful that the tunnels would have been used solely for this purpose.

There's the story of men getting drunk in the saloon, and then waking up hours later way out at sea. Imagine that...you're at the bar sucking back pints, getting tapped on the bean, being shuttled underground from the saloon to a waiting ship. And then off you go to some other port. And you wake up with a hangover, and the floor is rolling around under your feet, and you look out the window and there's nothing but water as far as the eye can see. You're in the Navy now, sailor.

The location of this entrance (wall pic) is interesting in that it generally offers point A in a straight line all the way up to what was then the Fort Victoria enclosure, the old courthouse, etc.

Also, the hole in the wall is a right-angle entrance from a 'rumoured' tunnel that begins 'somewhere' on Store Street and carries on down Warf Street. You can see evidence of this tunnel plainly enough, and with little effort, and that this tunnel eventually makes it's way to the old Customs house.

And so on and so on.

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post by mikejpc

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2855 on 11/24/2009 10:16 AM >

Well I'm no expert, but if the Southgate block was built by architect John
Teague in 1863, one could then theorize that the transport passages may have been apart of Teague's architectural design and implementation during the early 1860's? I know I'm repeating myself here, but in this 1973(?) photo, the openings appear to be unrestricted. It makes me wonder how far you could have traveled underground in 1973. Is it possible that some of these passage ways were still in use commercially 30 or 40 years ago??

click to view

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post by Mowgli-dog

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2856 on 11/24/2009 2:51 PM >

Surely there would have been roadwork between the time of building construction and these photos. I don't think they would leave an unused cavity under the road. Similar to unused under sidewalk areaways they would have been filled in during road works/repairs.

I would think the easiest way to find out would be to check the basement of the building directly behind, see if theres an old door. Who occupies that building anyway?

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post by KublaKhan

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2857 on 11/24/2009 6:15 PM >

Posted by Mowgli-dog
Surely there would have been roadwork between the time of building construction and these photos. I don't think they would leave an unused cavity under the road. Similar to unused under sidewalk areaways they would have been filled in during road works/repairs.

I would think the easiest way to find out would be to check the basement of the building directly behind, see if theres an old door. Who occupies that building anyway?

I think it's occupied by a condo developer. Show room sort of deal. Also, in/around that building stands the oldest water well in the city (maybe I'm mistaken on this detail, but there's a pretty fancy-looking historical thingy in the lobby of one of these buildings)

I digress...

John Adams told me of a summer of his youth (one might consider him Victoria's first modern era urban explorer) where he and a friend actually made their way INSIDE this place.

The real kicker is the restaurant immediately beside that wall...the Warfside (or whatever it's called...I've never been into tourist cuisine, even when I was cooking it) and the various stories that float around re: spooky basement full of rats and vermin and filth and ghosts and mysterious Chinese calligraphy posted on the entrance to some sort of tunnel system, etc.

Anyway...stand directly over the spot where this hole-in-the-wall thing exists, and follow the line of the road, and note that it corresponds with a tunnel directly under the sidewalk that extends from the old Customs House to what would have been the Johnson Creek Ravine.

Carry on.

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post by SteamPunk

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2858 on 11/24/2009 7:32 PM >

Posted by Mowgli-dog
I don't think they would leave an unused cavity under the road. Similar to unused under sidewalk area ways they would have been filled in during road works/repairs.

Not always, one of my old squats under ..er...Vancouver was a large cavity under an industrial roadway. I used it for several years, on and off. It was eventually burnt down, buy some unruly asshole squatter who thought it would be a good idea to have a fire under there. Well...the road above was shut down for days, while repairs were made, and the city filled the space in...and has been sealed since. I remember reading about it in the paper, and being delighted that a reminder of a place in my trouble past was gone.

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post by KublaKhan

Re: Under the Garden City: Victoria B.C. secret tunnels.
<Reply # 2859 on 11/24/2009 7:38 PM >

Posted by Mowgli-dog

I don't think they would leave an unused cavity under the road. Similar to unused under sidewalk areaways they would have been filled in during road works/repairs.

Any why not? There was an open cavity under a massive parking lot here in Vic. Someone burned out that place as well. It's gone now. Filled/fucked/closed.

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