City of The Dalles Oregon OR Warrant Search

The Dalles, Oregon The Dalles (pronounced /ˈdælz/) is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. 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 the 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, which was well after the several overland groups of the land components of the Astorian Expedition of 1810-1812 would have passed through and explored the region. The British fur traders in the region, initially just the smaller Northwest Company began exploiting the area around 1811 after its explorers passed through the area in 1807 and 1811 when they encountered a surprise — the American's expedition of the Pacific Fur Company caught in the act building Fort Astoria near the mouth of the Columbia. Several of its overland work parties transited the Dalles enroute to the nascent fort. Later, when the American's supply ship foundered, the agents for the Pacific Fur Company sold out to the British Northwest Company, for now thinking themselves stranded and believing it impossible to get furs overland back to the east past the harsh terrain of the known passes over the continental divide for their plan had been to ship furs out of the Columbian basin by sea. By the time the Northwest Company'd been absorbed by the giant Hudson Bay Company in 1821, The Dales was the company's preferred land terminus-transhipment-river port for shipping around the rapids and waterfalls down river from the port. In 1824 the Hudson Bay Company took the idea of a river port terminus one step further and established Fort Vancouver at the downriver side of the mule trail around the riverine obstacles. The key attraction of the Dalles was not the local topography away from the river where the town of today lies, but was instead in the ready access to the Columbia river available there — because it was one of only a few places along miles of river bank where it was relatively easy to build, launch, and load rafts, barges, or cargo canoes and cargo boats ladened with the lucrative Beaver pelts or supplies. Banks of the Columbia upstream and down were generally higher, steeper, and so much more difficult to use for miles both up river and down.By the mid-1820s, The Dalles valley was the terminus of the land freight route of the Hudson Bay Company's biannual 'York Factory Express' between Fort Vancouver (over forty miles down river by mule train over steep narrow trails past rapids and falls) and transshipment onto boats for the next leg upriver towards its headquarters depot at York Factory on far off Hudson Bay. During the War of 1812 other British companies and after the wars end, several overland American fur companies also began exploitation of the region, and by the 1820s the competition for the fur resources of the region became serious complex competitive enterprises carried out by exploitation teams organized in tens or hundreds of company men (fur traders and mule skinners, and teamsters headed by a management team of company agents) as fur trade was the biggest business of the day. These competitions ultimately depopulated the beaver population in the Columbia basin which, in part, caused a collapse of the industry feeling pressures from the Silk trade, but the fur trade first lead to several decades of trail building into the valley by both Canadian and American mountain men for both nationalities were needful of regular access to the Columbia River at the gentler river banks found at The Dalles.These commercial efforts also lead to some few tens or a few hundreds of small settler parties (best typed as the more hearty pioneering kind) who gradually entered the Oregon Country with making homesteads and settlements as a goal, and these risk takers established nascent settlements, explored for other resources, and expanded the primitive networks of trails and systematically hacked out wagon roads, some of which ended at the Dales for the same reasons. There is little proof, but also little doubt that such settlers converted stretches of narrow wagon-impassable mule trails into wider, better graded wagon capable roads, just barely good enough to send produce back east, or let new settlers wagon trains come to Oregon. With concurrent improvements made by the teamster teams of 'company men' by the mid-1830s the east-west road from the riverboat ports on the Missouri River to Fort John in eastern Wyoming was navigable by freight wagons, not just labor intensive mule trains. The longer distance all the way to The Dalles gradually also became wagon capable all the way to Fort John — both sections part of the whole improved roadbed eventually called the Oregon Trail.Consequently, with trails most often following watercourse routes, the valley become a natural major gateway and destination landmark of the American overland fur traders, especially after the South Pass route to the North Platte River was discovered in 1832 and so the Dales immediately became part of the Oregon Trail (expanded gradually from mule trails into a wagon road by those small parties of hearty settlers moving west) from its opening in 1841 as an Emigrant Trail, effectively anchoring one end, and commonly represented in the guidebooks as the common end terminus of the long (about 1700 mi back to the Missouri) miles of prior wagon road on the Oregon Trail. The Dales marked the trailhead of the Oregon Trail's last nearly 100 mile stretch before the nominal goal of Oregon City in the 'promised land' in the Williamette Valley — the place where an immigrant party had to choose between a long round about toll road around Mount Hood (opened after ca. 1850) or the risky choice of rafting down the rock strewn obstacle laden Columbia River. In the fall of 1849, United States Army troops arrived in the newly organized 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 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 Erin Glenn Winery.Construction of The Dalles Dam in 1957 submerged the Long Narrows and Celilo Falls.In 1963, Ken Kesey'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 nearby, the northern terminus of the Pacific DC Intertie which sends 3,100 megawatts of electricity to Los Angeles.In 1986, Penalty Phase, a film starring Peter Strauss and Melissa Gilbert, was filmed in and around The Dalles.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, each 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 Highways I-84, U.S. 30, and U.S. 197 meet in the 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. Climate Annual Average High Temperatures:88 °F(summer)41 °F(winter) Annual Average Low Temperatures61 °F(summer)30 °F(winter) Highest Recorded Temperature:111 °F(1998) Lowest Recorded Temperature:-25 °F(1950) Warmest Month:July Coolest Month:January Highest Precipitation:December Annual Precipitation:14.28 inches Demographics 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 87.83% 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. Annual cultural events The Northwest Cherry Festival is held in The Dalles in April. Museums and other points of interest The Discovery Center, the officialinterpretive center for theColumbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Fort Dalles Museum, Oregon's oldest history museum located in the Surgeon's Quarters built in 1856 atFort Dalles Pulpit Rock, used by Methodist missionaries to preach to the Native Americans Parks and recreation Sorosis Park is a 45-acre (180,000 m2) park in The Dalles. City Park is a 1.13-acre (4,600 m2) park close to downtown The Dalles. Firehouse Park is a 0.8-acre (3,200 m2) park located on the Columbia View Heights across from East Knoll. Thompson Park is a 12-acre (49,000 m2) park (6 developed, 6 non developed) located on 2nd Street on the west end of the historical district. Howe Park is a 1-acre (4,000 m2) neighborhood park located adjacent to The Dalles Middle School on the east end. Riverfront Park is a water front 10-acre (40,000 m2) developed park located just north of I84. Kramer Field Complex is a 16.5-acre (67,000 m2) sports complex which houses Little League, Babe Ruth, softball and soccer fields, owned by Wasco County and managed by Parks and Rec. Ted Walker Memorial Pool is a 50 meter outdoor swimming pool located within Thompson Park. Radio KACI(1300 AM) KODL(1440 AM) KMSW(92.7 FM) KACI-FM(97.7 FM) KCGB-FM(105.5 FM) Television K40AMtranslator forKGWPortland,NBCaffiliate K53EItranslator forKOINPortland,CBSaffiliate Notable residents Alan Embree, Major League Baseball player Lefty Bertrand, Major League Baseball player Nate Shaver, 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' (1936) Ken Dayley, Major League Baseball player Todd Nelson, retired touring professional tennis player Philip Whalen, a poet associated with theBeat Generation, grew up in The Dalles. Sister cities The Dalles has one sister city:Miyoshi City,Japan(formerlyIkeda)