Long after outliving its original purpose, an elaborate network of underground tunnels continued to exist for decades in Casper, in some places until just recently.

The dark passageways ran beneath sidewalks, connecting the basements of downtown businesses and sometimes crossing beneath streets.

Kevin Anderson, western history archivist at Casper College, has been trying to find information on the steam tunnels for years, but answers continue to elude him.

"I can't find anything but rumors," Anderson said. "Sometimes it's me starting the rumors and then they come back to me."

Many downtown merchants have heard stories of the tunnels, but few have ever been inside one or seen evidence that the tunnels existed. Some of the stories are urban legends with bits of truth, while others are just plain false.

There are no known books or living experts with extensive information about the tunnel system, but after a search of more than a dozen basements located beneath downtown businesses, the Star-Tribune has learned the following:

* About 100 years ago, a network of steam tunnels ran beneath Casper's downtown sidewalks and provided steam heat to downtown businesses from a power plant located at Collins Avenue and Center Street.

* The tunnels ran north along Center Street to the old courthouse and branched off down First and Second streets, connecting the basements of many buildings.

* The Casper Electric Company's steam plant burned down in January 1917 and was later relocated to where the Nicolaysen Art Museum is now.

* Over the years, the tunnels were sealed off and filled in, but were probably used from 1920 to 1933 to smuggle liquor during Prohibition.

Jason Gutierrez, associate engineer for city of Casper, said all the tunnels and basements located underneath the sidewalks along Second Street were filled in two summers ago when Second Street was reconstructed from Park to David streets.

Gutierrez said he has heard a lot of rumors, but never saw any evidence of tunnels crossing Second Street.

A seedy past

In 1918, Casper had grown to a population of more than 11,000. Many of its residents were men who worked hard in the oil field and played hard downtown.

The west side of Center Street from Midwest to First had nine saloons, as well as numerous pool halls, tobacco shops and parlors, according to old fire maps. The east side had no saloons but several banks, barber shops and a shooting gallery.

According to A.J. Mokler's "History of Natrona County," women were not allowed to walk on the west side of Center Street for fear of harming their reputation.

The store-front saloons closed during Prohibition, but illegal drinking and gambling continued in many downtown basements, as well as in Casper's old red-light district by the river in the Sandbar area.

While there is no documentation showing the abandoned steam tunnels were put to use moving alcohol and high-profile drinkers, many downtown business owners speculate that the secret staircases and trap doors leading to their basements were likely used for such purposes.

The basement of the Rialto Theatre used to be a pool hall, according to Craig Hosey, co-owner of Movie Palace, and the room was often used for illegal gambling.

"Back then, this was a seedy place where lowlifes hung out," Hosey said.

Hosey said the Rialto had its own boiler heater and probably didn't connect to the steam tunnels. The building's solid concrete foundation would seem to support his claims, but across the street in the basement of the former McCann's Jewelry store, the original stone foundation reveals a sealed-off tunnel facing north to the Rialto that could suggest otherwise.

McCann's basement also has another sealed-off tunnel facing west to the Petroleum Building.

In the basement of the Petroleum Building, a sealed-off tunnel faces east to McCann's. Also in the basement of the Petroleum, an elaborate, wooden doorway connects the basement to a stairway leading up to the alley.

The stairs have long since been blocked from above, but the doorway remains, a secret passage to nowhere.

Modern tunnels

Many downtown businesses share basement areas that were linked together by locked passageways.

Over the years, owners would occasionally find their businesses broken into from below. Most owners decided to seal off those passageways permanently with bricks and keep their basements to themselves.

Some of those passageways remain open, but building owners are reluctant to publicize any potential security gaps.

Casper has at least two tunnels that are still used by downtown banks to ferry money underground, but the presidents of those banks asked not to be identified, for fear that crooks could be inspired to tunnel into their establishments.

One tunnel crosses under First Street, a state highway. Even though the private tunnel has been in place for decades, the Wyoming Department of Transportation was unaware of its existence until informed by the Star-Tribune recently.

Big basements

Many of the buildings on Second Street had large basements that expanded beneath sidewalks and into the street. Metal grates in the sidewalk allowed street access to some basements as recently as two years ago, according to Casper Fire-EMS Chief Mark Young.

Young did building inspections many years ago for the fire department and recalled going through metal doors into a passageway that ran beneath the sidewalk on Second Street. Young said the tunnel accessed another nearby building.

Two years ago, the city reconstructed Second Street and required all businesses to seal off any basements that went under the sidewalk. The city put in a gray brick retaining wall at the edge of the sidewalk, sometimes chopping off eight feet of basement storage.

In several basements, the wall comes suddenly and abruptly. Stairs lead to basement doors, but behind the doors, the wall.

The city engineer's office said the basements were filled in for safety reasons and so the city could install light poles and tree planters.

On Center Street, several buildings still have basements that expand beneath the sidewalk.

The Wonder Bar, which first opened under that name in the '40s, has a basement that goes under the sidewalk on Center Street. Owner Pat Sweeney said the underground brewery system would be severely affected if the building lost that section of basement.

Next door in the state Employment Security Building at the corner of Center and Midwest, the building's basement expands completely under the sidewalk up to the street. In a storage room deep in the bowels of the building, a tree planter pokes down from the sidewalk in a sunken section of the ceiling.

Digging through old photos and newspaper clippings at the Casper College library, Anderson said he has found that you can get more information than you realize is there when you start putting all the bits and pieces together.

"One of the things that fascinates me is that the trail of history is fragmentary," he said. "By looking through many sources, you can start to correlate information and start to form a more accurate historical picture. History is not always written down in one place."

Reporter John Morgan can be reached at (307) 266-0614 or john.morgan@casperstartribune.net.