Guests get a feel for life in the Gold Rush era in the new addition to the Old Sacramento underground tour. The basement space beneath the Hall Luhrs & Co. grocery store is small, the lighting over 19th-century artifacts dim. Guests will forget the modern plumbing of the building above and get a glimpse of historical life.

The tour, which began Thursday, has guests start at the Sacramento History Museum and go straight to the Hall Luhrs & Co. building, where they learn about the unique part it played in the street-raising project. Guests then finish the tour at the underground space beneath the B.F. Hastings building, located at 128-132 J St., that originally made up the tour. Beneath the Hall Luhrs & Co. (Image by: Brandon Darnell)

“Sacramento was originally established where two flood-prone rivers meet,” said Heather Downey, a historian and interpretive writer for The Center for Sacramento History.

Downey said the two month storm, lasting from December 1861 to January 1862 forced residents to act. They chose to raise the city.

Residents raised the city to save it from flooding. Streets were filled in with dirt and buildings were raised to a higher, safe level.

“People wanted to convey a sense of permanency,” said Downey. “Instead of moving, they raised the city and built structures with brick and granite.”

Staci Cox, tour coordinator of the Sacramento History Museum, said the site was not added to the tour last year because it was structurally unsafe. The work took more than a year, but the mixture of old and modern materials in the underground space are now up to ADA compliances. Hollow Sidewalk (Image by: Brandon Darnell)

When the artifacts were discovered in 1979 to 1890 they were kept by state parks, and this is the first time the public will have access to many of them.

Some of the 19th-century artifacts, such as wine bottles, pipes, perfume bottles and lotion bottles are on display, and those were all found in the site. There is even a bourbon bottle that shows little signs of decay. Artifacts from Hall Luhrs Building & Co. (Image by: Elizabeth Orfin)

Unique to this site are the two bordellos that were in business in the lot.

“Frankie Bass, of mixed race and illiterate, was the madam at 914 2nd St.,” said Cox. “Johanna Hiegle was the other woman, and she ran her business at 916 2nd St.”

The bordellos were closed when the city was being raised, and the buildings were demolished.

The tour will go into the basement of the Hall Luhrs & Co. building where visitors can see the archaeological dig that was done by students from Cosumnes River College from 1979 to 1980 and some of the artifacts they recovered. Artifacts from Hall Luhrs & Co. (Image by: Brandon Darnell)

The archaeological site is in the center. It is blocked off by wooden railings. Cox said that guests can look into the site and see some staged artifacts that are period appropriate, but not original to the space.

Locals have spread rumors about what can be found beneath the spaces, with stories about its use as an underground race track or for the opportunity to do generally illegal things out of the public eye, Downey said.

There are also rumors of ghosts. The show “Ghost Adventures” filmed in the underground tunnels earlier this year, heightening the speculation.

“The underground space beneath the Hall Luhrs building never went out of memory,” said Downey, “but it was never interpreted. Here, we are trying to ascribe meaning to how life was during the Gold Rush.” Underneath the Hall Luhrs & Co. (Image by: Brandon Darnell)

The Hall Luhrs & Co. building tells a very different story than that of the B.F. Hastings building.

Hall Luhrs & Co. grocery store, the largest building in Old Sacramento, operated from 1885 to 1906, and unlike the B.F. Hastings building that was raised to meet the new streets, the Hall Luhrs & Co. building was built over four Gold Rush-era buildings that were destroyed.

“Of all the things we do on the tour, we just want people to grow in their appreciation for how their city is unique,” Downey said. “The underground and the raising of the streets, and everything that goes along with it, makes Sacramento a really special place.”

Each tour will be different. With 14 tour guides that don’t go off a script, guests will enjoy a unique experience every time. Tour Guides in period clothing (Image by: Elizabeth Orfin)

Some tours will be led by guides costumed in period attire speaking in first person. Other tours will be given in third-person, with a teaching point of view. There is no way to choose the tour guide, so guests will not experience the same tour twice.

Cox said that more than 10,000 tickets were sold last year.

Tours are held 10:30 a.m-3 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays during July and August. Tour schedules vary with seasons and continue through November 27. Tour check-in is at 101 I St. at the Sacramento History Museum.

Tours last one hour and cost $15 for adults, $10 for children and $12 for Historic Old Sacramento Foundation members.

For more information about the underground tour, click here.