The Dalles, Oregon

The Dalles, Oregon
The Dalles and the Columbia River as seen from Kelly Viewpoint.
Seal
Location in Oregon
County	Wasco County
Incorporated	1857
Government
• Mayor	Robb Van Cleave
Area
• Total	14.4 km2 (8.95 sq mi)
• Land	13.6 km2 (8.45 sq mi)
• Water	0.8 km2 (0.5 sq mi)
Elevation	33.2 m (109 ft)
Population  (2006)
• Total	12,520
• Density	892.3/km2 (1,438.6/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (Pacific)
Website	http://www.ci.the-dalles.or.us

This page is about the Oregon town. For the nearby geological formation The Dalles, see Celilo Falls. For other uses see Dalles.

The Dalles (/ˈdælz/) is a city in Wasco County, Oregon, United States, and the county seat of Wasco County. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle (meaning either "sluice" or "flagstone" and referring to the columnar basalt rocks carved by the river), what the French-Canadian employees of the North West Company called the now-inundated rapids of the Columbia River between the present-day city and Celilo Falls. The population was 12,156 at the 2000 census and was estimated at 12,520 in 2006. Also in the same area was the Petite Dalles or Little Dalles, or Short Narrows, which is now also inundated.

History

Lewis and Clark camped near Mill Creek on October 25–27, 1805, and recorded the Native American name for this creek as Quenett. The first use of the name Dalles, according to Oregon Geographic Names, appears in fur trader Gabriel Franchère's Narrative, on April 12, 1814.

The Dalles was the end of the land route of the biannual "Express" between Fort Vancouver and York Factory and later figured as the last stretch in the Oregon Trail. In the fall of 1849 United States Army troops arrived in the new Oregon Territory and established a military outpost at The Dalles, with a log fort finished in 1850 and named Fort 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.

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 over-runs, 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 the project's 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 Erin Glenn Winery.

Construction of The Dalles Dam in 1957 submerged the Long Narrows and Celilo Falls.

In 1970, the Bonneville Power Administration opened the Celilo Converter Station nearby, the northern terminus of the Pacific DC Intertie which sends 3,100 megawatts of electricity to Los Angeles.

In 2006, the Internet company Google 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 the underutilized fiber optic capacity of the area. The new complex includes two buildings, each approximately the size of a football field, and two cooling plants four stories high. The project has created hundreds of jobs in the area, mainly in construction, with an additional 60-200 permanent positions expected later in 2006.

Terrorism

In 1984, The Dalles was the scene of a bioterrorist incident launched by the Rajneeshee cult in an attempt to gain control of the local government of Wasco County. It was the first known bioterrorism attack of the 20th century in the United States.

Geography

City of The Dalles is located at 45°36′4″N 121°10′58″W (45.601218, -121.182774).Template:GR Highways I-84, US 30, and US 197 meet at this city.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.4 km². 13.6 km² of it is land and 0.8 km² of it (5.23%) is water.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR 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 87.83% White, 0.39% African American, 1.20% Native American, 0.96% Asian, 0.77% Pacific Islander, 6.23% from other races, and 2.62% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.50% 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.

Sister city

The Dalles has one sister city:

• Ikeda, Japan

Trivia

• The Dalles is the place of origin of a pedigreed breed of cat called the LaPerm. The breed was developed in the 1980s from a unique colony of curly-coated farm cats, which arose from a natural, spontaneous mutation and were owned by Linda and Richard Koehl on their farm in The Dalles. The breed is now owned and bred in many countries around the world.

• The Dalles is also home to a Neo-Nazi group named the National Socialist Vanguard.

Notable residents

• Alan Embree, Major League Baseball player
• Ken Dayley, Major League Baseball player

External links

• City of The Dalles
• Entry for The Dalles from the Oregon Blue Book
• Revisiting the 1984 Rajneeshee Bioterror Attack from GoSleepGo