Beneath Lewiston lies an underworld of history and ghosts?
By JENNIFER K. BAUER
The Lewiston Tribune

LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) -- Built a century ago, Lewiston's underground
passageways remain in a shroud of darkness and spiderwebs under the
streets and sidewalks of downtown.

Above ground, people walk over the thick chunks of glass set in the
sidewalk, prisms that reflect light into the subterranean corridors. For
many, what lies below is a mystery.
Retired Lewiston High School history teacher Garry Bush has been
unearthing some of the passageways, and discovering which stories about
them are true. He also is giving people the chance to visit them in
walking tour.

Certain people say you could walk to Snake River Avenue under the
sidewalk," says Bush, who stands underground several blocks away from
the avenue.

He stands in a cool sprawling basement underneath 515 Main St., which
currently houses Xtreem Comfort Bed & Futon upstairs but once was a
market. The basement walls are basalt and several rooms branch off into
the darkness. In one corner is a deep well dug to river level and still
containing clear water.

The basement once housed a butcher shop and a massive cement butcher
block lies against the wall. Nearby is an underground doorway flanked by
windows. The door stands underneath the business' actual entrance.
Through the doorway are iron work and bricked arches that support the
sidewalk.

Bush, who also serves on the Lewiston City Council, has spent hours
cleaning this space and others like it downtown. He says there are
several theories about what the passageways were for, one being that
they were used by "invisible people, Chinese and blacks, to make
deliveries," he says. Downtown Lewiston had a Chinese and a black
section at the turn of the 20th century. "To have Chinese walking in and
out of a business then was not really acceptable."

Bush first heard stories of Lewiston's underground passages from the
late Tom Campbell, a former Lewiston Tribune reporter.
The Tribune was once located in what is now a parking lot across the
street from the Means Building. Campbell told of how his father,
reporter Tom Campbell Sr., would take him from the office, under the
street and up into the Means Building. Upstairs in the building was a
brothel and the prostitutes would baby-sit him while his father worked,
letting him sleep on the pool tables.
"I'm just trying to continue the legacy of Tom Campbell Jr.," Bush says.
"Some of the tour books I use are his."

Bush says he has seen evidence that people were able to cross the street
underground at other locations. There are "numerous" arched entryways
facing the street that are now blocked up. Whether these tunnels were
for excavation, back and forth use or sewer access, he can only guess.

It also seems buildings were connected side to side underground. But as
buildings were broken up and sold over the years, many of the corridors
were filled. Above ground, cement has been poured over many of the glass
prisms. Bush says the chunks of colored glass now sell for $100 each.

Bush is a certified first-person living history presenter. He gives two
tours through the Lewis-Clark State College Community Education program
- Afternoon Spirits, a driving tour of Normal Hill; and Ghosts of
Lewiston, a walking tour of downtown. He has been giving the tours for
three years and says they nearly always sell out. Last year he won an
Orchid Award from the city for historic preservation.
Dressed in a bow tie and bowler hat, Bush leads the Ghosts of Lewiston
tour below and above ground. Its title reflects some of the stories he
has heard from occupants of various downtown buildings.

"I haven't found a building yet where women feel comfortable staying at
night," he says.
He has heard many stories of phantom activity such as voices, strange
sounds and lights turning on and off on their own.

He says the ghosts of a man and a woman have been seen walking across
the empty dance floor at Boomtown. At Courtesy Rent to Own, which was a
JC Penney store in the 1920s, a benevolent man in work clothes has been
said to remind people to lock the door. Upstairs in the Means Building,
people have heard sounds of a party when no one is there.

"I haven't seen anything. I've heard things but I haven't seen
anything," Bush says. "This town has a lot of history and a lot of
stories people can identify with."