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 On
January 11,1854 Wasco County was created, and comprised all the area
of the Oregon Territory between the Cascade Range (portions of
Clackamas, Marion, Linn, and Lane Counties) to the Rocky Mountains
with and from latitude 42 degrees (the California border) to
Latitude 46 degrees (the Washington border). The name "Wasco" was
taken from the Wasco (or Wascopam) tribe of Indians that lived south
of the Columbia River, near The Dalles. This was the largest county
ever formed in the United States, originally consisting of 130,000
square miles. Portions of the county became what is now Idaho,
Montana, and Wyoming with the remaining portions making up 17 other
counties in Oregon which the county to its present 2,392 square
miles. Wasco County is bordered by two rivers -- the Columbia River to the north and the Deschutes River to the east, and by the Warm Springs Indian Reservation on the south, with Mt. Hood National Forest on the west. The Dalles was designated the county seat when the county was formed in 1854. Courthouses were built in 1859, 1884, and in 1914. All three buildings are standing today and the 1914 building is still in use as the county courthouse. The falls on the Columbia River near The Dalles served as a gathering place and major trading center for many Indians, including the Wasco, Paiute, and Warm Springs. The falls had been named Le Grand Dalles de la Columbia (The Great Falls of the Columbia) by French Canadian fur traders. The Indians of the region were moved to the Warm Springs Reservation in 1855. The Dalles had served initially as a way station on the emigrant road to the Willamette Valley. The construction of a pioneer road over the Cascades in 1845 and the Donation Land Act of 1850 brought families to the area to settle. Wasco County became a major transportation hub for both river traffic and inland traffic. River traffic on the Columbia River was profoundly affected in 1935 by the building of Bonneville Dam in Multnomah County and by The Dalles Dam in 1957 in Wasco County. |
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