Gourt Home::Gourt :: The Dalles, Oregon
- For the German rock group The Dalles, see The Dalles (band).
- See also: Dalles of the St. Croix River.
The Dalles is a city in Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle ("flag stone"), what the French-Canadian employees of the Hudson's Bay Company called the now-inundated Long Narrows of the Columbia River above the present-day city. The population was 12,156 at the 2000 census.
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 Franchere's Narrative, on April 12, 1814.
The Dalles was the end of the land route of the Oregon Trail.
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.
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 here, the northern terminus of the Pacific Intertie which sends 2000 megawatts of electricity to Los Angeles.
In 1984, The Dalles was the scene of a bioterrorist incident launched by the Rajneeshee Cult. It was the first known bioterrorism attack of the 20th century in the United States. (See Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.)
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 power from the hydroelectric dam 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 to 200 permanent positions expected later in 2006. The project has caused real estate prices in the city to increase by 40%. Markoff, John and Saul Hansell (June 14, 2006). "Hiding in Plain Sight, Google Seeks More Power". The New York Times.
Geography
City of The Dalles is located at (45.601218, -121.182774). 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 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.
Politics
The Dalles has a very long running anti-war rally against the Iraq War which started before the war began. The protest is put on by the Wasco County Citizens For Human Dignity. This rally happens every Friday at 5:00 p.m. at The Dalles Post Office.
The Dalles is also home to another long running demonstration against the local adult shop. A group of local churches have cooperated to picket the store almost daily since early 2004 at least, without success in shutting it down. It's rumored the proprietor has a habit of opening adult shops in small conservative towns and waiting to be bought out (at a profit) by groups that object to the store's presence.
Sister City
The Dalles has one sister city:
Source: *
Notes
External links
- Revisiting the 1984 Rajneeshee Bioterror Attack from GoSleepGo
"The Dalles, Oregon"