The Dalles, Oregon

The area began as an Indian home thousands of years before white men came. The Indians called the area Win-Quatt, meaning a place encircled by rock cliffs. Lewis and Clark were the first white men in the area when they camped here in October 1805. They called the area Rockport. Fur traders came through in the 1810s and 1820s. Explorers, botanists, artists, writers, and adventurers all came to the "grand dalles of the Columbia." The first homes were built in 1838 by Jason Lee's Methodist missionaries established the Wascopum Mission here, the name being used by the Wasco Indians here. The mission was headed by Lee's nephew Daniel Lee and HKW Perkins. This mission along with Marcus Whitman's museum at Waililatpu near Walla Walla gave help to thousands of starving ill and desperate emigrants of the Oregon Trail.

Up to this point the Indians had been somewhat tolerant of the explorers, trappers and traders, and missions because they were few and transient. But when settlers came in they were very alarmed. They brought their wagons, tools, plows, domestic animals, wives, and children. This caused increasing tension, which was increased by the disease epidemics introduced by whites to the native people. The 1847 Whitman Massacre happened after a measles epidemic killed many Indians. The Indians were mad when it seemed Dr. Whitman's medicine was only curing whites but seemed to be killing Indians; but it was really because the Indians had no natural immunity. Volunteer militia provided by the Provisional Territorial Government occupied the abandoned mission in early 1848, calling them Fort Wascopam or Fort Lee after their commander, immediately after the Whitman Massacre. In 1849 the first U.S. army troops stopped briefly on their way from Ft. leavenworth to Ft. vancouver. Some returned to establish a small post. On March 30, 1850, Colonel William W. Loring, established a post at The Dalles. With the help of hired Oregon trail emigrants they built a log barracks and several frame buildings. Most had dirt floors and no ceilings and were drafty, leaky, and uncomfortable. The post was always undermanned, usually a few dozen men.

Two U.S. army companies established Camp Drum in May 20, 1850. Army policy was to patrol the Emigrant Road and to send settlers on their way to the Willamette Valley as quick as possible either down the Columbia or south around Mt Hood on the Barlow Road. There was a shortage of rations for the troops and priests at the Catholic mission at The Dalles helped furnish food for them. There were 10 square miles at the camp that later became Fort Drum, and eventually Fort Dalles in 1853. At that time only a one square mile military reservation was created. Under the direction of Capt Thomas Jordan, Louis Scholl designed the new building for Fort Dalles.

The Dalles was named by French-Canadian trappers. The word meant flagstone, used to flag gutters. In this vernacular the meaning was closer to "a place where water is confined by rocks." The basalt formations nearby no doubt inspired the name. The Grand Dalles referred to the great rapids east of the present town, inundated by the backwaters of The Dalles dam in 1957. At the first the town was called Dalles City, but popular usage was always The Dalles. The post office was established in 1851 with William R. Gibson as first postmaster. On September 3, 1853, the town's name was changed to Wascopum.

The county was est in 1854 and was the second largest county in the country at the time. The county had jurisdiction over a territory reaching from the Cascades to the modern-day states of Montana and Wyoming. That year gold was discovered near Colville and brought more traffic through. Violence increased. Major Granville O. Haller, using regular and volunteer troops, captured and killed some Indians that committed atrocities against wagon trains, but the military was greatly outnumbered east of the mountains. In 1855 attempts were made to sign treaties near Walla Walla and The Dalles.

The period that Colonel George Wright was there with the reorganized 9th Infantry Regiment was its busiest era. They came to force compliance to the treaties. The fort was headquarters for the regiment and the main military supply depot for the development of Fort Simcoe, Fort Walla Walla, and Colville.

The fort buildings formed an octagon with a grassy parade ground in the center. Timbers were cut nearby and sawed in the fort's own mill on Mill Creek and at 3 other nearby civilian mills. Sandstone was quarried on the nearby bluff for foundations and chimneys, some of which was hauled to Ft. Simcoe. The Surgeon's Quarters was the smallest and least expensive of the four officer's houses, costing a little less than $5,000 in 1856. Col Wright's house cost $22,000 but was referred to by amazed emigrants as the "$100,000 house."

Government inspectors were not impressed with the Fort's distinctive buildings even though Wright and Jordan upheld that all construction on the frontier was costly and that much of the expense had maintained posts at the Cascades, Ft. Simcoe. and Ft. Walla Walla. But additional funding was denied. Unfortunately Jordan had neglected to construct a water system and the funding was denied for a pumper for fighting fires.

By the late 1850s the Indian frontier had moved east and after temporary use in 1867-68 there was no further function. There was no longer a need for a fort at this location. By the end of 1867, a flaw that seemed to be a faulty mortar in the chimneys caused the three largest houses to burn to the ground. Only the surgeon's quarters remain today. Though the fort was abandoned after 1867 the town was well on its way to growth. The fort supplied the first sawmill, first newspaper, first school other than the mission school, military band, makeshift theater. The army kept a caretaker at the fort until 1880s when the remaining buildings were left to squatters and the elements.

In March, 1860 the name was changed to The Dalles. In 1966, the name City of The Dalles was officially adopted by city ordinance to conform with popular usage.

One of the town's founding fathers was Nathan Olney, a pioneer coming west to seek his fortune. He built one of the first homes in the area. He was on a firm footing forever with the Indians when he married the native chief's daughter Annette. Through operation of his trading post and ferry, leading the volunteer wagon train escorts, and keeping the peace as sheriff and justice of the peace, Olney was well-respected by white men and Indians alike.

Another of the town's founding fathers was Ben Snipes, the northwest cattle king. Starting with nothing, through perseverance and risk, Snipes became the largest cattle rancher in the Northwest. His headquarters and home was in The Dalles, where his brother also lived. The local Indians were his friends and employees. He herded and sold cows to miners in the Canadian gold fields, driving the herd hundreds of miles to the Cariboo mines. Snipes' home still stands and he and his wife are both buried here in the pioneer cemetery.

Some other milestones in The Dalles history are:

• St. Peter's Landmark was built in 1898. The landmark has been used as a benchmark for surveyors laying out property lines. It started in 1890 when a committee consisting of Max Vogt, Henry Herbring, EP Fitzgerald, and Jacob Fritz started planning for a new brick church to replace the old wooden buiding. Plans were obtained by Herbring from architect Rinklage of Munster in Westphalia, Germany. Otto Kleeman, a Portland artchitect, drew details and specifications. Its construction was delayed by a huge fire that burned much of the town, depression, low prices, failure of crops, until May 1, 1897. On July 25 of that year the cornerstone was laid. The church was dedicated on St. patrick's Day March 17, 1898.

• In 1910, the Carnegie library, now the Art Center Building, was built with a $10,000 donation. It was one of 2,509 libraries that Carnegie funded. Today it is a National Historical Landmark.

• By 1925 gas engines used the Columbia River Scenic Highway, which now linked Portland and The Dalles. In June of that year SR35 was finished, the last link between the roads that circled Mt.. Hood. It was still a hazardous road though with many sharp curves and switchbcks. Later the roads were improved and curves straighted out and became a safer drive.

• 1929 the Granda Theater opened. It is a historic landmark in the Moorish architectural style.

• In 1957, the completion of the dam at The Dalles inundated Celilo Falls and Lake Celilo formed behind it. The unique design in the form of a backward L takes advantage of a natural rock formation in the river to connect separate spillway and powerhouse sections. The generating capacity is 1.8 million kilowatts and can light up two cities the size of Portland, OR. The pool behind the dam is called Lake Celilo and it stretches 24 miles upstream to the John Day Dam.

Today The Dalles has a population of 12,000, the county seat of Wasco County. In 1992, there were 456 farms owning 1.15 million acres. Primary crops are cereal grains, sweet cherries and apples. Ranching is also common. Wheat is the dominant field crop with 190,000 acres. Durable goods, wood products, and aluminum manufacturing also top employers. The Dalles is also known as a premier wind-surfing area. The Columbia River Gorge has excellent topography and weather patterns that create some of the best high wind sailing in the world from early spring to fall.

Go back to Oregon

Last updated: 3/20/98