The Dalles, Oregon

The Dalles is the largest community in the Mid Columbia River Gorge, and serves as the county seat of Wasco County. The Dalles was incorporated in 1857. The population of The Dalles was listed in the 2000 census at 12,185. In 2002 it was listed at 12,250. This is slightly half of population for Wasco County, which is 24,150. The elevation of The Dalles is109 feet.

The town has a lengthy history. While it was founded in 1857, the area was long used as a place of trading and rendezvous by Native American tribes from all over the Pacific Northwest.

The Executive Director of the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Wasco County Historical Museum located in The Dalles, Ken Karsmizki, is an archeologist who has been working closely with NASA's Stennis Space Center in Missisippi to combine satellite imagery with detailed historical maps of the Corps of Discovery's Lewis and Clark Expedition. Karsmizki hopes to use this high tech approach to pinpoint the exact location of several of Lewis and Clark's 600 campsites. The Dalles is one of only two locations in the nation that can identify an original camping site of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition. This local area is now known as "Rock Fort" and has been the subject of research, including a special on Lewis and Clark filmed by the Discovery Channel, a project which Karsmizki served as consultant.

The Dalles was also the end of the Oregon Trail, and the jumping off spot for people who wished to travel on to the fertile Willamette Valley. During the 1800's the US Government established Ft. Dalles.

"Rock of Ages" Mural depicting Pulpit Rock

Visitors to The Dalles can enjoy the many murals on local buildings in the downtown area.

Sponsored by The Dalles Mural Society, these works of art depict a variety of historic scenes from local history. To view these murals, click here.

City of The Dalles
City Hall:
313 Court Street
The Dalles OR 97058
Phone: (541) 296-5481
Fax: 541-296-6906
Email: [email protected]
Mayor: Robert Van Cleave

The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce
Telephone 541-296-2231
Toll Free: 1-800-255-3385

Click here to view a community profile prepared by the Oregon Economic & Community Development Department.

Newspaper:
The Dalles Chronicle.
PO Box 1910,
315 E. Federal St.,
The Dalles, OR
541-296-2141

Radio:
Q104 FM 104
KODL AM 1440
Y102 FM 102.3
KACI FM 97.7 and AM 1300
OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

The Dalles is located on the south bank of the Columbia River and on the east flank of Mt. Hood.

Area: The Dalles: 20 sq. miles
Wasco County: 2,396 sq miles 10 persons/sq mile

Distance in miles from closest cities:
Hood River, OR - 21 miles
Portland, OR - 83 miles
Pendleton, OR - 120 miles
Seattle, WA - 260 miles
Spokane, WA - 261 miles
Boise, ID - 350 miles
Sacramento, CA - 667 miles
San Francisco, CA - 717 miles

Source: Oregon Department of Transportation, State of Oregon Map; Oregon Blue Book

Temperature:
Monthly Ave. Low: 30° F Monthly Ave. High: 88° F
Hottest Month July Coldest Month January Driest Month July Wettest Month December
Average annual precipitation: 13.97"

Humidity (Hour 10, local time):
Average July afternoon humidity: 34% Average January afternoon humidity: 77%

The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce
Telephone 541-296-2231
Toll Free: 1-800-255-3385

The name The Dalles is derived from the French word dalle, meaning flagstone, and was applied to the narrows of the Columbia River, above the present city of The Dalles, by French-Canadian employees of the fur companies. Among other things, dalle meant a stone used to flag gutters, and the peculiar basalt formation along the narrows doubtless suggested gutters. The word dalles signified, to the voyageurs, the river rapids flowing swiftly through a narrow channel over flat, basaltic rocks. The name is common in America. Well-known dalles are those of the Saint Louis, Saint Croix, Wisconsin, and Columbia rivers. The best-known dalles were those of the Columbia. The name is not derived from the French dale meaning trough. As far as the compiler knows the first use of the name Dalles in Oregon is in Franchere's Narrative, on Apr. 12, 1814, where it is used to describe the Long Narrows. Jon Work, in his journal of 1825, speaks of Dalls. The name La Grande Dalle de la Columbia became established. The original name of the community was Dalles City, but for many years the style in universal use has been The Dalles, this style being adopted not only for historical and sentimental reasons but also to avoid duplication with Dallas, Polk County. On June 7, 1966, the name was changed by ordinance to the City of The Dalles to conform to current usage. The post office was established with the name Dalles on Nov. 5, 1851, with William R. Gibson first postmaster. On Sept. 3, 1853, the name was changed to Wascopum, and on Mar. 22, 1860, it was changed to The Dalles. The narrows of the river were generally known as The Dalles of the Columbia, and this collective term described the geographic features from the Big Eddy on the west to Celilo Falls on the east. All these rapids were inudated in Mar. 1957 when The Dalles Dam was completed, forming Lake Celilo. Just east of Big Eddy was Fivemile Rapids, formerly known as the Long Narrows, The Dalles, or The Great Dalles. Further east was Tenmile Rapids, formerly known as the Short Narrows, Little Narrows or Les Petites Dalles. For information about The Dalles of the Columbia, see OHQ, v. 27, in the article by Henry J. Biddle entitled "Wishram." The neighborhood of Mill Creek at The Dalles was called Quenett by the Indians, which was a word for salmon trout. Lewis and Clark camped at the mouth of this stream on Oct. 25, 26, and 27, 1805, and recorded the form Que-nett in their journals and maps. In Apr. 1806 they named this place "Rockfort camp." Dr. William C. McKay, in an article in The Dalles Mountaineer, May 28, 1869, gives the Indian names of a great many places in the vicinity of The Dalles. Dr. McKay says that long before the white men came, the Indians called the locality of what is now the city of The Dalles Win-quatt, signifying a place encircled by rock cliffs.

Fort Dalles was a regular military post used during various Indian disturbances from 1850 to 1866. It was situated on Mill Creek, in the west part of the community of The Dalles, and before it was abandoned, it had developed into a commodious post. Fort Lee was established at The Dalles in the fall of 1847 at the time of the Cayuse War, but it had nothing to do with Fort Dalles. In May of 1850 Colonel W.W. Loring, then stationed at Vancouver, sent two companies of the Mounted Rifles to The Dalles to establish a supply depot. Heitman, in the Historical Register, says the post was first called Camp Drum. This was apparently to commemorate Captain Simon Henry Drum, who was killed in the assault on the City of Mexico, Sept. 13, 1847. For information about Fort Dalles, see Illustrated History of Central Oregon, pp. 102-105. The first buildings were of logs, but some of them burned, and the post was reconstructed in 1856-57, rather elaborately. A Captain Thomas Jordan had charge of the new construction. There is no record of any fortifications or defenses, either before or after the reconstruction. The reservation at first very large, was finally reduced to 640 acres, with the northeast corner at the mouth of Mill Creek. In 1905 the Old Fort Dalles Historical Society secured possession of the only remaining building, the Surgeon's quarters. This building is now used by the society as a museum and is visited by a great many people each year. It was built in 1858 and its design gives a good idea of Fort Dalles after the development of 1856-57. Priscilla Knuth has an interesting and detailed account of the fort and its buildings in Picturesque Frontier, the Army's Fort Dalles.

-- Source: Oregon Geographic Names, Sixth Edition, 1992, Lewis L. McArthur, Oregon Historical Society Press, ISBN O-87595-237-2.

DISCLAIMER: A2Zgorge.info is an information and referral service provider and is not liable or responsible for direct services provided by any individual, business or organization listed. Please report any problems you experience directly to the business or organization in question. If you do not receive satisfaction, we suggest you file a report with the Better Business Bureau . The information on this site is for information purposes only, and not to be considered legal advice, or to take the place of consulting an appropriate medical or mental health professional. Would you like to make a correction or an addition?

	Principle industries are Agriculture (wheat, cherries), Manufacturing, Processing, and Tourism. During the energy crisis of 2000 and 2001, the Enron-manipulation of the price of electricity forced several hundred job layoffs at Northwest Aluminum, which operated two local smelters, plunging the local economy into a depression. While the local economy has suffered from the closure of the two aluminum smelters, the citizens are resilient and are actively continue to improve the town.
Chief among these improvements is a public access underpass that will connect the core downtown area with the Columbia River, allowing for tour boats to dock and the Riverfront Trail which will provide ten miles of uninterrupted hiking from The Dalles Dam to the Discovery Center at Crate's Point.