The Dalles ( ;) formally the City of the Dalles and also called Dalles City, is an
inland port, the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of and the largest city in
Wasco County,
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
, United States. The population was 16,010 at the
2020 census, and it is the largest city in Oregon along the
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...
outside the
Portland Metropolitan Area. The Dalles is 75 miles (121 km) east of Portland, within the
Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.
History
The area around The Dalles is known to have been a trading center for Native Americans as long as 10,000 years ago and is thus one of the oldest inhabited places in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
.
The site of what is now the city of The Dalles was a major Native American trading center. The general area is one of the continent's most significant archaeological regions.
Lewis and Clark
Lewis may refer to:
Names
* Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname
Music
* Lewis (musician), Canadian singer
* " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...
camped
near Mill Creek on October 25–27, 1805, and recorded the Indian name for the creek as ''Quenett''.
Etymology
The name of the city comes from the French word ''
dalle'', meaning either "sluice", akin to English "dale" and German ''T''
'h'''al'', "valley", or "flagstone", referring to the
columnar basalt rocks carved by the river
(in ''
voyageur'' French used to refer to rapids), which was used by the
French-Canadian employees of the
North West Company to refer to the rapids of the
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...
between the present-day city and
Celilo Falls. Also in the same area was the Petites Dalles or Little Dalles, or Short Narrows. In French, "les dalles" means "the slabs". When a river flows over hard flat rocks, it becomes shallow, and rapids are created.
Fur trade
The first use of the name ''Dalles'', according to ''
Oregon Geographic Names,'' appears in fur trader
Gabriel Franchère's ''Narrative'', on April 12, 1814, referring to the long series of major rapids in the river.
[ Starting in the 1810s, Americans and Europeans passed by what became The Dalles, active in the ]North American fur trade
The North American fur trade is the (typically) historical Fur trade, commercial trade of furs and other goods in North America, beginning in the eastern provinces of French Canada and the northeastern Thirteen Colonies, American colonies (soon- ...
as employees of either the American Pacific Fur Company (PFC) or the Canadian North West Company (NWC). Men like NWC officer David Thompson voyaged both down and up the Columbia, traveling through Celilo Falls. The War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
led to the 1813 liquidation of the PFC, its properties like Fort Astoria
Fort Astoria (also named Fort George) was the primary Fur trade, fur trading post of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company (PFC). A maritime contingent of PFC staff was sent on board the ''Tonquin (1807 ship), Tonquin'', while another party tra ...
sold to the North West Company.
In 1821 the North West Company was absorbed by the giant London-based Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
(HBC). Fort Vancouver, built in 1824, replaced Fort Astoria as the regional fur trade headquarters. The HBC's trading network made extensive use of the Columbia River. The rapids of the Columbia River at The Dalles was the largest and longest of the four "great portages", where fur trading boats had to unload and transship their cargoes. Sometimes, during high water, boats traveling downriver would "shoot the rapids" instead of portaging, although the practice was dangerous and many people died as a result over the years.
Wascopam Mission
In 1838 a branch of Jason Lee's Methodist Mission
The Methodist Mission was the Methodist Episcopal Church's 19th-century conversion efforts in the Pacific Northwest. Local Indigenous cultures were introduced to western culture and Christianity. Superintendent Jason Lee (missionary), Jason Lee was ...
was established at Celilo Falls, named the Wascopam Mission, after the native Wasco Indians. In 1850 the U.S. Army founded a small post at the site of the old mission, being eventually named Fort Dalles. Fort Dalles became the nucleus of the town of The Dalles, which began to develop along the waterfront.[ In 1855, at the end of the Cayuse War, the Indians living near The Dalles were forcibly relocated by the U.S. Army to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.][
]
American settlement
In the early 1840s American settlers began to arrive in significant numbers, traveling overland via the Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...
. The trail ended at The Dalles. It was not possible to take wagons farther west due to steep cliffs that fell straight into the Columbia River. Until the construction of the Barlow Road in 1846, the only way to reach Fort Vancouver and the Willamette Valley was by rafting down the river from The Dalles.[
A post office was established within the boundaries of the current city in 1851, and The Dalles was incorporated as a city in 1857. It has been the major commercial center between Portland and Pendleton since. The city was originally named just "Dalles". In 1853 it was changed to "Wascopum," then, in 1860, to "The Dalles".][
In 1864, the U.S. Congress appropriated money to build a U.S. mint in The Dalles that was to use gold from Canyon City for coinage. The supply of gold from Canyon City began to dwindle, however, and other problems, such as cost overruns, workers leaving to work the gold fields, and flooding from the Columbia River, also contributed to the project running two years behind schedule and led eventually to its demise. In 1870, the State of Oregon received the property from the U.S. Government and the building was put to other uses. The mint is now home to Freebridge Brewing.
]
20th and 21st centuries
Construction of The Dalles Dam in 1957 submerged the Long Narrows and Celilo Falls.
In 1963, Ken Kesey
Ken Elton Kesey (; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and Counterculture of the 1960s, countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies o ...
's novel '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' was published featuring the narrator, Chief, who is from The Dalles.
In 1970, the Bonneville Power Administration opened the Celilo Converter Station near the northern terminus of the Pacific DC Intertie which sends 3,100 megawatts
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...
of electricity to Los Angeles.
In 1982, a curly-coated kitten was born on a farm in The Dalles owned by Linda and Dick Koehl. The Koehls used this kitten and her offspring to develop a new breed of cat called the LaPerm, which went on to become a popular, established, championship pedigree cat breed around the world.
In 1984, The Dalles was the site of the first and single largest bioterrorism attack in United States history.
In 1986, '' Penalty Phase'', a film starring Peter Strauss and Melissa Gilbert, was filmed in and around The Dalles.
In 2018, Terry A. Davis, creator of the TempleOS operating system, walked from Portland, Oregon to The Dalles in three days via the Columbia River Gorge. There, he was struck by a train and died at the age of 48.
Geography
Highways I-84, US 30, and US 197 meet in the city.
According to the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Climate
The Dalles is usually classified as a semiarid (Köppen ''BSk'') climate region. However, it has some characteristics of the midlatitude oceanic climate that dominates west of the Cascade Mountains, combined with seasonal precipitation patterns very similar to those found in Mediterranean climates. The city's location in the eastern Columbia Gorge results in the presence of numerous microclimates within a few miles of town. To the immediate west, the winters are significantly wetter, and summers are significantly cooler. In contrast, upland locations to the south are significantly cooler in all seasons. The generally warm and dry summers near town make it the ideal climate for the numerous Bing cherry orchards in the area.
The summer season runs from mid-June through early September and is quite warm by Pacific Northwest standards; however, summer weather often oscillates between intense heat waves and much cooler and windier periods. Except for the occasional sporadic thunderstorm, there is almost no summer rainfall.
From late September through early November, the area experiences an abrupt autumn during which normal temperatures drop very rapidly and cloudy, wet weather quickly picks up. Prior to the sudden onset of the rainy season in mid- to late fall, there are often days with a very wide disparity between daytime and nighttime temperatures, sometimes exceeding . There is far less wind in the fall than in spring and early summer, though passing frontal systems can still bring quick bouts of strong wind.
Winter is the wet season in The Dalles. Despite the rain shadow
A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side.
Evaporated moisture from body of water, bodies of water (such as oceans and larg ...
effect created by the Cascades, there is still enough precipitation most years to support relatively high soil moisture levels for most of the winter. This is a very similar pattern to what happens in classic Mediterranean climates – except that the temperatures are significantly colder. The area receives measurable snowfall virtually every year, but the snow totals fluctuate dramatically from one year to the next; some seasons see only one or two brief light snow events while others get major snowstorms and cumulative totals of or more. The most snowfall in a season has been between July 1949 and June 1950. Average winter temperatures are only about colder than in cities such as Portland and Seattle, and temperatures below are very rare, but not unheard of – historically occurring on three mornings out of every five winters, but only once since February 1996.
As in the summer, winter temperatures can vary tremendously from one day to the next. During arctic air events the daytime high temperatures will generally be well below , while a strong subtropical push can raise temperatures into the 50s and low 60s F, even in January. It is quite common for relatively cold air to become trapped at low elevations due to an inversion above; depending on the temperature of the surface airmass, depth of the inversion layer, and temperatures above the inversion layer, this can result in snow, sleet, freezing rain or a very cold liquid rain.
Springtime conditions generally run from late February through early June, during which time the overall trend gradually becomes warmer and drier and the landscape briefly turns lush and green. This is the windiest season of all, with a powerful west wind on most afternoons. During stormy periods in spring, conditions are usually cloudy and cool, while most sunny and calm days become intensely warm, especially from April onward. Springtime temperatures often vary more from one week to the next than they do from one month to the next.
The growing season is roughly 200 days long in a typical year, generally running from early April through most of October. However, the spring frost dates can range from mid-March to early May, and the fall frost dates can range from late September to mid-November.
A weather station is located at nearby Columbia Gorge Regional Airport, also known as The Dalles Municipal Airport.
Economy
In 2006, Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
began building a major data center, known locally as Project 02, along the Columbia River in The Dalles, using the area's reliable hydroelectric power and underutilized fiber optic capacity. The new complex includes two buildings, each approximately the size of a football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
field, and two cooling plants, each four stories high. The project promised hundreds of jobs in the area, mainly in construction, with an additional 200 permanent positions expected later in 2006 although as of 2013 Google employed only 150 combined company employees and contractors in The Dalles.
Top employers
In 2021, Wasco County published a list of top employers in the region. Mid-Columbia Medical Center was the number one employer listed with over 500 employees; a local school district, Oregon Cherry Growers and Fred Meyer all reported more than 250 employers. Google employed between 100 and 250 people, according to the list.
In 2012, the top 15 employers in The Dalles according to the Mid-Columbia Economic Development District report on "Largest Employers in Wasco County" were:
Education
The Dalles is home to Oregon School District 21. Originally 2 school districts; District 9 in the Chenoweth area and District 12 which included much of The Dalles.
District 21 includes 3 elementary schools: Colonel Wright Elementary, Chenoweth Elementary and Dry Hollow Elementary. District 21 is also home to Innovations Academy, The Dalles Middle School and The Dalles High School.
St Mary's Academy is a k-8 school affiliated with the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
in The Dalles.
Columbia Lutheran School is a Christian elementary school of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod in The Dalles.
The Dalles is also home to the main campus of Columbia Gorge Community College which began in 1977 as Wasco Area Education Service District. It is a leading institution in renewable energy technology education and training.
Demographics
2010 census
As of the census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2010, there were 13,620 people, 5,472 households, and 3,441 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 5,903 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 87.9% White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.5% African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 1.5% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 0.8% Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 5.7% from other races, and 2.7% from two or more races. Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino people of any race were 17.0% of the population.
There were 5,472 households, of which 30.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.1% were married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.1% were non-families. 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.99.
The median age in the city was 39.7 years. 23.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.1% were from 25 to 44; 25.8% were from 45 to 64; and 17.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.4% male and 51.6% female.
2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 12,156 people, 4,896 households, and 3,226 families residing in the city. The population density was 892.3/km2. There were 5,227 housing units at an average density of 383.7/km2. The racial makeup of the city was 87.8% White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.4% African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 1.2% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 0.8% Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 6.2% from other races, and 2.6% from two or more races. Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino people of any race were 10.5% of the population.
There were 4,896 households, out of which 30.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.1% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.1% were non-families. 29.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40, and the average family size was 2.94.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 24.8% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 25.7% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 18.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $35,430, and the median income for a family was $43,041. Males had a median income of $36,387 versus $22,583 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,511. About 9.0% of families and 12.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.6% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.
Arts and culture
Annual cultural events
The Northwest Cherry Festival is held in The Dalles in April.
Museums and other points of interest
* Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum, the official interpretive center for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
* Fort Dalles Museum, Oregon's oldest history museum located in the Surgeon's Quarters built in 1856 at Fort Dalles
* Pulpit Rock, used by Methodist missionaries to preach to Native Americans
*North Wasco County Aquatic Center, the most recent in many iterations of the local swimming pool. Previously known as the Natatorium, "Nat" or "Nat Club".
*The river front trail, runs along the Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...
from the Discovery Center to the local boat marina.
*Sorosis Park, a park. Contains a memorial rose garden with the Vogt Fountain as the centerpiece.
Media
Radio
* KACI 1300/103.9 FM
* KODL 1440AM/99.1 FM
* KMSW 92.7/102.9 FM
* KACI-FM 93.5 FM
* KCGB-FM 105.5/96.9 FM
* KJYV 101.5 FM
Television
* K34KE-D translator for KGW
KGW (channel 8) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Jefferson Street in southwestern Portland, and its transmitter is located in the city's ...
Portland, NBC affiliate
* K23OV-D translator for KOIN Portland, CBS affiliate
Newspaper
* '' Columbia Gorge News''
* Columbia Community Connection Digital, Bilingual and Local News for the Mid-Columbia Region
Rajneeshee Movement
In 1984, The Dalles was the scene of a bioterrorist incident launched by members of the Rajneesh Movement in an attempt to gain control of the local government of Wasco County, which failed on Election Day. Salmonella
''Salmonella'' is a genus of bacillus (shape), rod-shaped, (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two known species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and ''Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' ...
placed in ten restaurants resulted in 751 cases of Salmonellosis
Salmonellosis is a symptomatic infection caused by bacteria of the ''Salmonella'' type. It is the most common disease to be known as food poisoning (though the name refers to food-borne illness in general). These are defined as diseases, usuall ...
. It was the first known bioterrorism
Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents include bacteria, viruses, insects, fungi, and/or their toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form, in mu ...
attack of the 20th century in the United States. The circumstances of the attack are documented in an American Medical Association article (JAMA Vol 278, No 5, page 389, 6 Aug 1997).
Notable people
* Homer D. Angell, Republican U.S. congressman for OR-3, 1939–1955
* Lefty Bertrand, Major League Baseball player
* John Callahan, cartoonist, grew up in The Dalles
* H. L. Davis, Oregon's only Pulitzer Prize winner in literature with ''Honey in the Horn
''Honey in the Horn'' is a 1935 in literature, 1935 debut novel by Harold L. Davis. The novel received the Harper Prize for best first novel of 1935 and won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1936. The title of the book is from a line in a squ ...
'' (1936)
* Ken Dayley, Major League Baseball player
* Alan Embree, Major League Baseball player
* Shemia Fagan, Democratic State Senator for Portland and Former Oregon Secretary of State, 2021–2023.
* Jacob Glanville, Ph.D., computational immunoengineer and businessperson
* Jennifer Lyon, '' Survivor: Palau'' contestant
* Todd Nelson, touring professional tennis player
* Wilma Roberts, local photographer who lived and worked at the Elite Studio, later called "Mel O's" in The Dalles
* Greg Walden, Republican congressman from OR-2, 1999–2021.
* Philip Whalen, a poet associated with the Beat Generation, grew up in The Dalles
Sister cities
The Dalles has one sister city
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are early examples of inte ...
:
* Miyoshi City, Japan (formerly Ikeda)Tukwila Sister City Affiliation
Ci.tukwila.wa.us (November 19, 1979). Retrieved on June 4, 2012.
See also
* List of cities in Oregon
References
External links
City website
Entry for The Dalles
from the '' Oregon Blue Book''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalles, Oregon, The
Columbia River Gorge
County seats in Oregon
Historic Columbia River Highway
Oregon Trail
Port cities in Oregon
Populated places established in 1849
Oregon populated places on the Columbia River
Cities in Wasco County, Oregon
Rajneesh movement
1849 establishments in Oregon Territory
Cities in Oregon