01Summary
Until 1846 the wagon road ended here, at the rapids of the Columbia River. Emigrants had to float their wagons downriver or leave them behind, until the Barlow Road around Mount Hood opened a way by land.
02History
The Dalles sits at the foot of a long stretch of rapids on the Columbia River. Fur traders used the word 'dalles' for places where a river rushes through narrow, rocky channels, and French Canadian traders called the worst of these rapids 'Les Grandes Dalles.' Native people have fished here for more than 9,000 years, and the Wasco people lived in the area.
Methodist missionaries Daniel Lee and Henry Perkins founded Wascopam Mission here in 1838, and from 1843 it was an important stop for emigrants. Until 1846 this was as far as wagons could go. Emigrants took their wagons apart and floated them down the river on rafts or in hired boats, carrying everything around the Cascades rapids, while others drove the cattle over a rough trail around Mount Hood. The river was dangerous, and in 1843 several emigrants drowned in the rapids.
In the fall of 1845 Sam Barlow and Joel Palmer blazed a route around the south side of Mount Hood, and in 1846 Barlow opened it as a toll road. It charged five dollars a wagon and soon became the most popular way into the Willamette Valley.
Celilo Falls, the great Native fishery upriver, disappeared under the reservoir of The Dalles Dam in 1957.
03Today
The Dalles is the largest city in Wasco County. The Fort Dalles Museum, one of the oldest history museums in Oregon, is in the 1856 surgeon's quarters of the Army's old Fort Dalles, and a stone monument in a city park calls the town the end of the Old Oregon Trail.
04People connected here
05Stops nearby
The Oregon Trail ran about 2,170 miles from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City. The stops just before and after this one are below. You can also find The Dalles on the interactive map.