>History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Dalles area of Oregon. > >Laura in Seattle > > In 1852 a town was surveyed and laid out in lots, blocks and >streets; the town was incorporated as Dalles City in 1857, and subsequently >entered at the United States Land Office at Oregon City a townsite claim >under the Townsite Act of May 23, 1844, in trust for the occupants. The >name Dalles >City was afterward changed to The Dalles. I note that you copied this straight from the suggested website, so shame on them, not you. The official name of the town has never been changed. Its still Dalles City. Check the Oregon Blue Book or their official stationery http://www.webtrail.com/applegate/names.html The Dalles, Wasco County began with the name La Grande de la Columbia. In 1851, the post office established the name Dalles. In September 1853, the name was changed to Wascopum, and in March 1860 changed to The Dalles (so as not to confuse it with Dallas in Polk County - named after George Dallas, Vice President to Polk). The incorporated name of this community is now Dalles City, but the postal name and the one in universal use is The Dalles. http://www.wasco-history.r9esd.k12.or.us/comm/td.html According to Oregon Geographic Names, 6th Edition by Lewis L. McArthur, p.594 The name The Dalles is derived from the French word dalle, meaning flagstone, and was applied to the narrows of the Columbia River, above the present city of The Dalles, by French-Canadian employees of the fur companies. Among other things, dalle meant a stone used to flag gutters, and the peculiar basalt formations along the narrows doubtless suggested gutters. The word dalles signified to the voyageurs, the river rapids flowing swiftly through a narrow channel over flat, basaltic rocks. The first use of the name Dalles in Oregon was in 1814. The name La Grande Dalle de la Columbia became established. Although the city is officially Dalles City, the post office, and common usage is The Dalles. jim

Well, since we have to resort to "shaming" someone, I guess the one who has been shamed should step forward and clarify what has become something of a "whose history do we believe most" contest. :-) First of all, the article quoted at the Wasco Co. GenWeb site was not quoted in its entirety. If it is read in its entirety, the context of "the name was later changed" becomes evident. By not quoting the introduction to the article, the context of that statement appeared to be a different statement than it was intended to be. No, I did not write the article -- I only posted it to the website. End notes at the website read as follows (these were also not posted with the partial article when posted to this list): >>For a review of this litigation, see The Methodist Mission Claim to The Dalles Townsite, by Mrs. R.S. Shackelford, Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. XVI, p. 24 and the court records referred to therein. Ref.: Special Laws of Oregon, 1853-54, page 26<< And, with all due respect to Jim-who-shamed-me, I must say that his complete trust in the single source he quoted with regard to how the name of The Dalles evolved to be what it is today, is fairly simplistic. There are stories sprinkled throughout the Wasco Co. GenWeb site that refer to some of the numerous theories, assertions and claims about how the city came to be called The Dalles, but there are even more theories out there than there have been names for the geographical area now known as The Dalles. To quote one version that was posted (without any source notes) by a web hosting provider that is located on the opposite end of the state from the area being discussed, and to present it as an authoritative source, well I think that was a bit short-sighted. I won't shame anyone for that, but I will invite you to read a couple dozen researched histories on the area before settling on which one *you* believe is the most likely to be the "truth." I think it's also important to note here that, although the website address and quoted material were listed in Jim's post immediately following his advice to "Check the Oregon Blue Book [about the official name]," the information quoted had no relationship to any official document, but was a summary of a couple of theories, and the summary itself contained an error about one of those theories: the men of Hudson's Bay Company were said to have called it "Le Grande Dalles de la Columbia" -- *not* La Grande de la Columbia as quoted in the summary. Jim's own explanation at the bottom of his post did correct that summary, however, and provided some additional information about the most commonly accepted theory of how The Dalles got its current name. The summary he quoted also implied that the first use of the name "Wascopum" (also said to be "Wascopam") was in 1853, which is not at all correct, since it was the name used for quite some time by the earliest settlers to the area, the Indians. I'm not flaming anyone, nor am I the least bit upset about Jim's posting. I just felt that if someone is going to go to the effort of 'correcting' and especially *shaming* someone else's information, he should at least provide the full story and some authoritative sources (which are very hard to come by in this case, since the truth is that nobody has ever been entirely certain of all previous names or their meanings to the persons naming them) at the time he does the shaming. Since he didn't do that, I have attempted to provide the information in encapsulated form here. Further information on the various theories can be found in "A History of Oregon" and several historical texts about Wasco County. I hope I have clarified, rather than further muddying the waters. ;-) -- Cheri [email protected] --->>>^<<<--- Wasco Co., OR GenWeb site--> http://www.historysavers.com/orwasco/

>Well, since we have to resort to "shaming" someone :-) [text deleted] >I hope I have clarified, rather than further muddying the waters. ;-) > Cheri, My comments were not intended as a shaming or flaming. The statement assigning blame was aimed at the website referenced, not at yourself. It probably should have been omitted. No one will disagree that the city is commonly called The Dalles and this label has been officially accepted and used nearly 100%. But officially allowing yourself to be called something is not a legal change of name. It is a fact, not a theory, that the official name remains Dalles City. No amount of arguing or essaying will change that. The State of Oregon grants legal names by accepting an institution's Articles of Incorporation, whether it be a city, business or church. The City at the Dalles is not worried enough about their official name to ask the state to change their articles of incorporation. The usage of the common term The Dalles is so widespread that most do not realize the trivial legal fact that I was bringing to the list's attention. And by the way, if anyone wants a letter from the city council or police on Dalles City letterhead, do not mail a request to Dalles City, because the post office is officially The Dalles. More than enough has been said and this topic is probably not worthy of continuing publicly. :-) jim