Underground base right in the heart of Portland, OR

This is an interesting one to me, as I don't know if anybody else has managed to put the pieces together.

I have lived in Portland for over 10 years now. I lived right downtown until a few years ago. One day, there were a number of construction vehicles at the power substation right near my old place. The substation was quite normal looking at that time, some transformers behind a chain link fence. Well, construction on the site proceeded rapidly and a very stout looking steel wall with concrete framing each steel section was put up, and finally the whole thing was finished off with a brick facade. A large, automatic steel gate was installed after this. There was also a very thick, insulated cable that was run across the top of the structure. Electric barrier? That's when things got weird.

Firstly, there is an office type building on the north side of the structure. It has an anonymous looking door on the front. I walked by the place every day or two, as it was on my route downtown. The thing that struck me, was that there was a lady at a desk inside! I was able to look in only one time.

The real weird part is that soon after the building and wall were completed, dump trucks full of dirt and stone rubble started exiting from the gate. I would estimate that probably 30-40 large dump trucks were leaving this place, day in and day out for about 6 months. That's an incredible amount of material.

I do know that Portland had the nation's model continuity of government center during the cold war. It was housed only a few thousand yards away, on the top of Council Crest. There is still an array of large, armored buildings up there, at the bases of some transmission towers.

Here's an aerial view of the structure, which looks innocuous enough at this time: maps.google.com...,-122.691056&spn=0.000554,0.000753&t=h&z=21 and here's a link to a nice video of the operations center in Portland as of about 50 years ago: www.archive.org...

The other thing that got me thinking, is that about the same time there was a TBM put into the ground to bore a new sewer tunnel for Portland. The machine was touted as one of the most advanced of its kind, able to dig several hundred yards per day. The damn thing of it is that it was in the ground for almost two years!

Gotta be a secret base.

maps.google.com...,-122.691113&spn=0.000554,0.000753&t=h&z=21

I don't know how to make this link come out better, it's a link to the google map location of the site.


45.516733,-122.691113

reply to post by HattoriHanzou


I have lived in Portland for my entire life. There are multiple underground bunkers/bases scattered through out our city. Some of which are for the presidents safety in case of an attack while visiting.

reply to post by HattoriHanzou


I know they have been concerned about the vulnerable power systems in this country so maybe they just updated the cable and put it in this tunnel, or its a tunnel to a bunker. Hard to say until someone blows the whistle. A large tunnel like that could serve many roles in protecting utilities and be used as routes to bunkers.

Give me a cross street and I will check it out on my sales rounds... not kidding. If there is an office there like you say I have not problem going in to "solicit" them. I will check back in with this thread and let you know what I find out... I might even manage to take some pictures?

I am somewhat familiar with that area. My wife attends Lewis&Clark.
Is it closer to OHSU? Is it off Terwilliger?

Originally posted by redzareptile
Give me a cross street and I will check it out on my sales rounds... not kidding. If there is an office there like you say I have not problem going in to "solicit" them. I will check back in with this thread and let you know what I find out... I might even manage to take some pictures?

I am somewhat familiar with that area. My wife attends Lewis&Clark.
Is it closer to OHSU? Is it off Terwilliger?

17th and Columbia.

reply to post by HattoriHanzou
Wrong 17th and columbia... Ooops! I got the coordinates now and I will do some legwork to see if I can sniff anything out!.

To those of you outside the NorthWest region of the United States. All streets and roads have a directional designation.. NW,N,SW, (ect..)

Like I said. I will stop by and update the thread as to what I find.

Originally posted by redzareptile
reply to post by HattoriHanzou

 

17th and Columbia??? I know that intersection and I know there is no substation there. I can also tell you that is on the flat part of North Portland...

Sorry, try SW Portland, or look at my Google Earth link.

This is SW and not E Portland.

Its a substation ATS

The building across the street to the north is Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest, INC.




The substation has been there at least twenty years.

The other thing that got me thinking, is that about the same time there was a TBM put into the ground to bore a new sewer tunnel for Portland. The machine was touted as one of the most advanced of its kind, able to dig several hundred yards per day. The damn thing of it is that it was in the ground for almost two years!

Are you talking about the Big Pipe project that just wrapped (after 20 years)

I don't know if I buy it, but I will be in sw tomorrow, so ill take a look.

If, and it a big if, they are tunneling, I'm sure it has to do with the MAX trains which will be running through the area.


There is also a plan(may actually have already started) to tunnel under the river into vancouver.

Originally posted by Drunkenparrot
Its a substation ATS

The building across the street to the north is Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest, INC.

The substation has been there at least twenty years.

Where's the building in the old photo?

Along the north wall?

Hmmm... Interesting. That looks like a large substation with at least 4 underground cable connections. The high security seems a bit strange (usually just chain link fence's on stuff like this... Well in the UK at least) as does the description of 30+ dump trucks leaving site 24x7 for 6 months. If there are any large recently built or expanded industrial area's nearby It could just have been a planned upgrade to cope with additional load. I notice (using Google street-view) that there is at least one building overlooking this site, do you know anyone working/living in there that might have seen the build process?

It is possible that it's related to this Continental Supergrid

The US economy is expected to expand at a rate averaging 2% per annum for the foreseeable future. Moreover, it is anticipated that industrialization and urbanization of the developing world will occur at a faster pace, resulting in the prospect in 2050 of a planet with several billion more inhabitants aspiring to the standard of living now typical of the developed world. Substantial increases in energy production and consumption will invariably follow to fulfill and sustain these developments and expectations. The challenge will be to supply these energy requirements in North American and worldwide in the most efficient and environmentally benign manner with minimal emissions and effluents of any kind.

Originally posted by Anon77
Hmmm... Interesting. That looks like a large substation with at least 4 underground cable connections. The high security seems a bit strange (usually just chain link fence's on stuff like this... Well in the UK at least) as does the description of 30+ dump trucks leaving site 24x7 for 6 months. If there are any large recently built or expanded industrial area's nearby It could just have been a planned upgrade to cope with additional load. I notice (using Google street-view) that there is at least one building overlooking this site, do you know anyone working/living in there that might have seen the build process?

It is possible that it's related to this Continental Supergrid

The US economy is expected to expand at a rate averaging 2% per annum for the foreseeable future. Moreover, it is anticipated that industrialization and urbanization of the developing world will occur at a faster pace, resulting in the prospect in 2050 of a planet with several billion more inhabitants aspiring to the standard of living now typical of the developed world. Substantial increases in energy production and consumption will invariably follow to fulfill and sustain these developments and expectations. The challenge will be to supply these energy requirements in North American and worldwide in the most efficient and environmentally benign manner with minimal emissions and effluents of any kind.

They high security barrier, steel gate, and (possible) electric barrier atop the walls are quite suspicious. The other thing that gave it away, to me at least, is the sheer volume of material they extracted from the site. Dump trucks were leaving with dirt and rubble every workday for over 6 months.

As promised here is my report. Let me qualify this that this all in my humble opinion and observations.

1. This "sub-station" is in a heavily populated and high traffic area. on the west side is a retirement community of condos, to the south are what apear to be individual private condos for sale These two buildings over look the compound. To the east (as noted from a previous poster) is the northwest native american rehab center and a public transit bus center. to south is a methodist chuch (maybe wrong denomination?).

2. Securtiy to the main compound seemed a little soft? One camera for the whole yard. I would expect maybe one in each corner?

I would expect with all of the public traffic surrounding this compound that someone would notice vehicles entering and exiting. I don't have the time for a stake-out (sad to say).

My best guess is that the proximity to the highway 26 tunnels might have something to do with the boring operation. On the west side of the tunnels are high voltage power lines. I would think that it would take a lot of digging to connect to this substation. I think running high voltage transmission lines through a densly populated neighbiorhood might create a safety issue.

I would like to believe that there is a 'secret" underground base here in the NorthWest but in this case, I think this is just a substation.

Like I said though, these are my opinions based upon my observations.

Ok, just done a few quick calculations based on your description of dump trucks. Have based it on approx 35 per day (carrying their maximum load of 32 metric tons), based on a 5 day working week and a 4 week month (like I said, only an approximation) that comes out to more than 134,000 metric tons over 6 months! That's a huge amount of material! I'm wondering if they dug a hole and were in fact collecting material from a TBM boring a tunnel below the site? The TBM's normally get rid of material on a conveyor belt, then transferred to other vehicles for disposal. Maybe it was getting to long a trip to dispose of material in the tunnel and the substation just happened to be in the right place to make a sort of staging post? Just a guess, but plausible.

I live in the Area and doing in Depth research on this gives me a "rush" so to speak. I know this post is old beginning of this year but let me do a couple day stake out and see what is going on. I have a friend that lives in Brush Prairie, Wa about 25 miles outside of Portland over the bridge in the out skirts of Vancouver, Wa. He lives near a supposedly called "Army Base" in the middle of the woods and also was looking more into checking that out as well I will keep you posted on the 17th and columbia location you listed above. Think ill do a little "stroll" through there tomorrow.
Good Day!

Substation...PCBs...have you investigated if this was an environmental cleanup?

Environmental documents often have great data in them. You can't move that much dirt without a permit.

This is the kind of thing easily reached. Yeah, maybe you have to look like an arse in city hall, but that never stopped me!

Not exactly the case here, but generally in urban areas, your "secure" buildings with a receptionist are usually data centers. Data centers need some people there, if only to let you into your cage. With no receptionist, it can be a telco facility.