The Dalles probably derived its name from its location by 'contracted running waters hemmed in by walls of rock'. Such a place was called 'dalles' in French. The first building in Eastern Oregon was the Methodist mission erected at the Dalles in 1838. The mission home became a favorite place for voyagers, up and down the Columbia who were compelled to portage at this place. As time passed the Dalles became the chief settlement east of the Cascades. Here in the spring of 1848 the log Fort Dalles was built and occupied by Major Tucker and his command, the 'Rifle Regiment' of U.S. Troops, who had arrived the previous autumn. Here, too, was established the first court house which was for years the only 'hall of justice' between the Cascades and the Rockies. By 1858, as indicated in the picture, the Dalles had become a permanent little city.
The dalles in the Columbia river compelled Lewis and Clark to make a portage- that is carry their canoes and supplies around the rough water. Judson says 'At Celilo Falls, again at The Dalles and again at the Cascade Rapids, they had to carry their boats and all their baggage.' A party of Astor's men did the same thing in reverse order, when after the building the first fort at Astoria in 1811, they ascended the river and built a log shelter at Okanogan before the winter came on.
