Day 3: Tourist Day in Pendleton

September 8, 2023

I could pedal another day without resting, but I'm taking a day off because Pendleton is such an interesting place to visit. Call it a tourist day.

My motel doesn't serve breakfast. I slept late, then walked 5 blocks to the Rainbow Cafe on Main Street. On the way I took a photo of the 1908 Old City Hall in full shade.

Rainbow Cafe is in an 1883 building and claims to be the oldest tavern in Oregon. The cafe looks like nothing has changed since 1950. I had a big breakfast but didn't order anything from the bar.

Breakfast at Rainbow Cafe. Is the Welcome Moose named Rainbow?

After breakfast I walked into Hamley's Western Store to have a look. It was founded in 1883. They manufacture saddles and various other western wear. I looked at the belt rack and noticed that a beautifully tooled Hamley-made leather belt with no buckle is $208. I didn't buy one even though it would look great paired with my Zuni-made silver belt buckle with inlays of jet, turquoise, coral, and mother of pearl. I should have looked at the hats. I imagine the price is $500 and up. I wonder how many tens of thousands of dollars they charge for a custom saddle?

Super-custom Hamley saddle for the 2023 Pendleton Round-Up bull riding champion.

Back at the motel I got organized for a short bike ride. First I pedaled east across town to get to the east end of the Umatilla River Walk. I pedaled the entire length of the 3 mile long River Walk. It's all paved, built on top of a 6 foot high levee that separates Pendleton from the Umatilla river.

The 3 mile Umatilla River Walk is built on top of a flood protection levee.

Nearly all of Pendleton is south of the Umatilla river, but the town has several bridges across the river. The River Walk passes under each bridge to avoid road crossings.

Umatilla river looking downstream near downtown Pendleton.

The west end of the River Walk goes around the back side of the Pendleton Round-Up property with good views of the grassy Indian encampment area, stadium, livestock pens, and outdoor amphitheater.

20,000 seat stadium for the Pendleton Round-Up.

Outdoor amphitheater for an annual western pageant.

The Round-Up stadium complex was locked up and deserted when I saw it for the first time on May 30. Now there is much activity because the rodeo starts in 5 days.

On the way back to downtown I snapped a picture of First Presbyterian Church advertising "Round-Up Sunday". I expected Pendleton to be festooned with banners about the Round-Up, but the town wasn't decorated at all.

Round-Up Sunday at First Presbyterian Church.

I parked the bike at the motel after completing a 7 mile loop. Then I walked back to downtown for my 1 PM Underground Tour appointment. The tour takes 2 hours, starting with a film at the visitor center. Then a guided tour through many underground chambers.

Sign at the Underground Tours museum. The first smoke jumper death took place in my home county!

The Underground Tour starts in the Shamrock Card Room and Saloon which was a popular place during the 1920-1933 prohibition era. The Underground Tour exhibits portray different time periods as old as 1880's and as new as the 1940's.

Shamrock saloon and card room in Pendleton Underground.

Chinese laundry in Pendleton Underground.

Ice cream parlor in Pendleton Underground.

Some businesses make a lot of sense to be underground. It's surely easier to keep ice cream and meat cold deep underground.

The high stakes card room was once a very fancy place. The tour group entered via the main entrance but exited via narrow hidden passages that pass through multiple closets. That's how clients escaped when law enforcement arrived.

High stakes illegal card room, Pendleton Underground.

Pendleton Underground was heavily used by Chinese laborers. They were employed building railroads, but also for other heavy labor such as building the underground passages. They lived in a segregated community that included a self-run jail cell to prevent unpleasant encounters with white man justice. The tour went through a small empty room that was once an opium den.

Chinese bunk room, Pendleton Underground.

Chinese-run jail cell, Pendleton Underground.

Nearly every sidewalk in downtown Pendleton has a tunnel underneath. Some of those tunnels have glass block skylights.

Glass block skylight on a tunnel in Pendleton Underground.

The guide explained that the glass blocks were originally clear, but decades of UV light exposure caused manganese dioxide impurities to give the glass a purple hue.

The last 30 minutes of the Underground Tour is above ground in the Cozy Rooms Hotel which was Pendleton's fanciest bordello and the luxurious home of Madam Stella Darby.

After the underground tour I spent a few minutes looking around Main Street. The sidewalk has 3 prominent bronze statues. Surprisingly, the statues depict two women and a black man.

Stella Darby, respected Madam of Cozy Rooms bordello.

Stella Darby is an interesting character. She openly ran the fanciest bordello in town. Of course her customers tended to be the wealthiest and most influential people in town. She was respected for treating the women well and for her philanthropy. Multiple bordellos operated openly for almost 100 years. Authorities routinely fined and closed the bordellos, but they would reappear almost instantly. Authorities claimed to be helpless to stop it. In 1953 they were finally motivated to close the bordellos for good after a Baptist preacher threatened to read the names of all the customers in church if the bordellos aren't closed by Sunday.

"Mother of Pendleton" Aura Goodwin Railey. She and Moses Goodwin built the first house in Pendleton.

George Fletcher, 1911 bull riding champion. A black cowboy.

The story about George Fletcher is fascinating. He was an extremely gifted bull rider, one of the best in history. He was by far the best bull rider in the 1911 Round-Up, but racist judges gave the title to a white man instead. The audience expressed their disapproval because it was obvious that George Fletcher was the best. Afterwards, his hat was cut into 1 inch squares and town people paid $10 for each square to buy a championship trophy for George Fletcher.

I stumbled onto the Friday Farmer's Market when I went looking for dinner. The Farmer's Market had many vendors and customers enjoying the 80F evening.

Pendleton is a ranching town. The Umatilla river isn't big enough to irrigate a large number of farms. But 30 miles west of Pendleton is Oregon's largest fruit and vegetable growing region centered around the town of Hermiston. That area has abundant irrigation water from the Columbia river.

Most of the produce comes from Hermiston, 30 miles west. Pendleton doesn't have many farms.

Pendleton is a regional center, the largest town in eastern Oregon. Population 16,841. It has the only scheduled air service and the only daily newspaper in northeast Oregon. Also a junior college and a state prison.

View from my dinner table at Great Pacific Pub. Street still closed for the Farmers Market.

I wandered around downtown still more after dinner. The Federal Courthouse is an impressive brick building.

Working Girls hotel is a former bordello that is now a 5 room boutique hotel.

Today was a great tourist day with many interesting things to see and do. Pendleton is one of the best places in the country to immerse in traditional American cowboy culture.

Today I biked 7 miles and walked round trip to downtown four times, 5 blocks each direction. I walked extensively around downtown and walked/stood for 2 hours during the Underground Tour. It was an active tourist day, not a rest day.

Distance: 7 miles
Average Speed: 8.4 mph
Ascent/Descent: +88/-88 feet

Today's ride: 7 miles (11 km)
Total: 117 miles (188 km)

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Gregory GarceauKnowing what I know now, I'd take a full day to explore Pendleton too. And I really might be touring in that area next time my wife and I visit her family in Spokane.
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1 year ago

Wayne EstesPendleton isn't the scenic highlight of the tour but it might be the cultural highlight. It's a great place to explore for people seeking unique local culture. Downtown Pendleton has basically no chain businesses and has authentic pioneer western culture that can only be found in a few places. If I was more energetic I could also see a tour of the Woolen Mill. And I somehow missed the Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame Museum even though I pedaled in front of it. Must have been distracted by traffic.
I'm not a huge fan of low desert but it adds variety to a tour that is mostly in greener high desert. This area resembles the Palouse. Golden stubble reveals every contour of the land. Green only in deep folds.
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1 year ago

Wayne EstesTo Gregory GarceauAnother observation about Pendleton. It's a high quality tourist destination that is NOT crowded with tourists.
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1 year ago