DALLES, THE

formally City of the Dalles, also called Dalles City inland port, seat (1854) of Wasco county, Oregon, U.S., on the south bank of the Columbia River, 75 miles (121 km) east of Portland. Its name originated with French voyageurs who likened the basaltic rocks through which the river races to flagstones (French: les dalles). A trading post and Methodist mission were established in 1838, and Fort Lee and Fort Dalles were built during the 1840s and '50s. The settlement became the terminus of the Oregon Trail. The discovery of gold in the 1860s boosted the town's growth as a trading and supply depot; for a time a federal mint was located there. With the completion in 1957 of The Dalles Dam (3 miles east), the city became the eastern terminal for oceangoing craft from the Pacific (200 miles west), handling grain, fruit, lumber, meat, wool, and oil. About 50 miles (80 km) south is the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. Incorporated as Fort Dalles in 1857, it was later known as Dalles City and The Dalles. By a 1966 charter amendment, it was renamed City of The Dalles. Pop. (1990) 9,422.