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At The Dalles, OR the Columbia River rumbled through a narrow chasm which was a critical stop for the emigrants. It is here that the trail ruts come to a stop - blocked by the Cascade Mountains. However, the Willamette Valley, the emigrant's destination, was still 100 miles further. In the Oregon Trail's first years, there was only one solution - float the wagons down the Columbia River. This is where pioneers loaded their wagons onto rafts or barges and floated down the Columbia to the mouth of the Willamette River, then upriver to Oregon City. The Barlow Road was later constructed in 1845, permitting an overland crossing. The Dalles was named by fur trappers for the French word for gutter. The passage through The Dalles, with emigrants and their wagons crowded onto a small wooden rafts, was often perilous. The Barlow Toll Road took a longer route around Mount Hood, but it was a much safer method than rafting through The Dalles.
In The Dalles, visit Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Wasco County Historical Museum.
