A Step Back in Time

By Linda Tancs

On the south bank of the Columbia River in the foothills of the Cascades is a step back in time where pioneers, adventurers, gold miners, mountain men and soldiers once convened. Called The Dalles, it’s framed by Mt. Hood and is home to Fort Dalles Museum (one of Oregon’s oldest history museums) as well as the site where Lewis and Clark camped during their expedition to the land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. The city’s unusual moniker derives from a French reference for gutters lined with large tiles. The area’s French traders bestowed the name in the 1800s because of the long, gutter-like formation of the rapids known as the “grande dalles” of the Columbia River. The rapids were later submerged when The Dalles Dam went into operation in 1957.