From Frontier Fort to Museum – Preserving the Legacy of Fort Dalles

Rescue of the Surgeon’s Quarters: By the turn of the 20th century, Fort Dalles was a fading memory in The Dalles – but not forgotten. The once-grand Gothic buildings had mostly disappeared, but one substantial structure remained: the Surgeon’s Quarters, built in 1856 for Dr. Joseph Brown and the fort’s medical department. This long two-story house, with its distinctive pointed gables and board-and-batten siding, had survived where others did not. It was sturdily built on a stone foundation of local basalt and was used as a residence for some years after the Army left. By 1904, however, the Surgeon’s Quarters was vacant and in disrepair, its very existence threatened by development or neglect. At this critical moment, a determined group of local citizens – notably pioneer women of The Dalles – took action to save the historic building. In 1903, these women (many of them descendants of early settlers) launched a preservation campaign oregonencyclopedia.org. They formed a committee under the auspices of the Sorosis Society, which was the local women’s club. (Sorosis was one of the first all-women’s clubs in America; a chapter had been established in The Dalles in 1902, dedicated to civic improvement and culture columbiacommunityconnection.com.) These forward-thinking women saw the old Surgeon’s Quarters not as a derelict relic, but as a treasure – a tangible link to the pioneer days that was worth saving for future generations.

Through their lobbying, the U.S. Congress was persuaded to deed the Surgeon’s Quarters and the immediate grounds (several lots of the former military reservation) to the Oregon Historical Society (OHS) in 1904 oregonencyclopedia.org. The Oregon Historical Society, based in Portland, was a logical custodian since it was a recognized nonprofit devoted to state history. However, the local women were the real drivers. Congress’s act was essentially a transfer “for historic preservation purposes,” and once OHS held the title, it authorized the ladies of The Dalles to establish a museum on the site fortdallesmuseum.org. Thus was born the Old Fort Dalles Historical Society, the first affiliate chapter of OHS, organized in 1905 oregonencyclopedia.org. These “history-minded pioneer women,” as they were later praised, wasted no time: in the summer of 1905, the Fort Dalles Museum officially opened its doors in the restored Surgeon’s Quarters fortdallesmuseum.orgfortdallesmuseum.org. Remarkably, it became one of Oregon’s very first history museums, predating even the Oregon Historical Society’s own museum in Portland traveloregon.com.

A Pioneer Museum is Born: When Fort Dalles Museum opened in 1905, its mission was to preserve the heritage of the fort, The Dalles, and the broader mid-Columbia region. The Old Fort Dalles Historical Society, led by women like Lulu D. Crandall (whose father had been in that 1868 Grant Club, and who herself became a noted local historian), began gathering artifacts to fill the museum. Because the Army had long since removed all military property when the fort closed, the rooms of the Surgeon’s Quarters were essentially empty. The community stepped up to donate and display pioneer memorabilia of all kinds. Soon the museum’s collection included “Indian artifacts, Oregon Trail relics, early tools, household items, and many photographs of people and places important to the area’s history.”. Visitors could see Native American beadwork and baskets, arrowheads found near former tribal camps, and even objects from the Hudson’s Bay Company era. Relics from pioneer days were plentiful: wagon parts, ox shoes, pioneer clothing, kitchenware, and Bibles carried across the plains. These everyday items told the story of the settlers’ journey and homesteading life. The museum also displayed personal mementos from Army soldiers and officers who had served at Fort Dalles – for instance, perhaps a uniform coat, a sword, or a field desk, if any had been retained locally. Old photographs and paintings adorned the walls, giving faces to names like Colonel George Wright or Captain Thomas Jordan. The very building itself became the largest artifact on exhibit – visitors marveled that this was the actual house where officers and the post surgeon lived in the 1850s.

The Surgeon's Quarters – An Architectural Gem: The Fort Dalles Museum building (the Surgeon’s Quarters) is not only historic but also architecturally significant. It remains an excellent example of Gothic Revival architecture applied to a frontier setting. Key features include the steeply pitched roof with multiple gables, ornate bargeboard trim under the eaves, and tall, narrow windows. The house originally cost just under $5,000 to build in 1856 – far cheaper than Colonel Wright’s mansion, but still a hefty sum at the time – reflecting the Army’s willingness to invest in quality construction during Fort Dalles’s brief boom. It was designed by Louis Scholl (the talented architect/draftsman we met earlier) following the patterns of Andrew J. Downing goregonencyclopedia.org. In fact, researchers have identified that Scholl specifically adapted a Downing design called “Design III, Symmetrical Cottage” for this structure oregonencyclopedia.org. Characteristic elements include the clustered chimneys (the chimneys have multiple shafts joined together with decorative tops) and a charming veranda (porch) that once wrapped around parts of the house oregonencyclopedia.org. The interior of the Surgeon's Quarters was designed to be spacious and elegant by frontier standards – high ceilings, a central hallway, and a parlor with a bay window. The woodwork inside was made of local alder but faux-painted to resemble more expensive oak or marble, following Downing’s suggested techniques for achieving beauty with local materials. Today, this building is the only surviving structure of Fort Dalles’s 1850s military complex traveloregon.com, and it has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1971 oregonencyclopedia.org. Visitors are often struck by its “unusual Gothic Revival facade” – it looks more like a quaint Victorian country home than a fort on the wild frontier traveloregon.com. This unique appearance no doubt adds to the museum’s charm.

Museum Exhibits and Collections: Over the decades, Fort Dalles Museum has expanded its displays, truly becoming a window into 19th-century life in Oregon. Some highlights of the museum and its grounds include:

• Period Rooms: Inside the Surgeon's Quarters, several rooms are furnished as they might have been in the 1860s. For example, one can see a Victorian-era parlor with horsehair-stuffed furniture, a square piano, oil lamps, and thick velvet drapes – conveying the domestic atmosphere an officer’s wife might have created. An officer’s study or bedroom might display a rope-strung bed, a writing desk, and the uniform of a 9th Infantry officer. Throughout these rooms, historic photographs and portraits of local figures (like Dr. Joseph Brown and other officers) are on display, connecting faces to the fort’s story fortdallesmuseum.org

• Military Artifacts: The museum holds various military memorabilia from the fort and Civil War era. Visitors can view things like a soldier’s 1850s rifle, bayonets and sabers, a cavalry saddle, and fragments of Army equipment excavated on site (perhaps a belt buckle or a uniform button). Notably, the museum possesses the aforementioned “Grant flag” – the huge 36-star American flag sewn by local women in 1868 for Ulysses S. Grant’s presidential campaign. This flag was donated by Lulu Crandall in the early years of the museum and has recently been the focus of a restoration fundraising effort so it can be properly conserved and displayed. Such artifacts help illustrate the national context in which little Fort Dalles played a part.

• Native American Heritage: In respect to the Indigenous history of The Dalles, the museum showcases Native American artifacts – including tools and crafts from the Columbia River tribes. Arrowheads, fishing implements, stone pestles, and baskets reflect the rich Native culture that predated the fort by millennia. There may also be exhibits about the Celilo Falls trading site, with perhaps a diorama or images depicting the massive salmon harvests that once occurred there. The museum’s narrative acknowledges that The Dalles was a meeting place of many tribes (Warm Springs, Wasco, Yakama, Nez Perce, etc.) and that the fort’s story cannot be told without the context of the tribal presence and trade networks that came before oregonencyclopedia.org.

• Pioneer and Homefront Life: One room is often dedicated to pioneer household items: an Oregon Trail covered wagon trunk, kitchen utensils like cast iron pots and butter churns, a spinning wheel and loom used by early settlers, and perhaps clothing such as a buckskin jacket or calico dresses from the 1850s. There are also medical tools on display, appropriate given the building’s original function. A Civil War-era doctor’s bag with surgical instruments (amputation saws, tourniquets, etc.) reminds visitors of the challenges of frontier medicine and surgery archives.gov. Additionally, the museum has a fascinating collection of 19th-century personal items like journals, Bibles, and even toys (dolls or wooden toys) that belonged to children who traveled the Oregon Trail or grew up in early The Dalles. Each item comes with a story, often contributed by local pioneer families.

• Historic Vehicles – Wagons and Buggies: A major attraction at Fort Dalles Museum is its collection of antique wagons and vehicles. Housed in a big barn on the museum grounds (often called the Anderson Barn), this collection boasts everything from stagecoaches and covered wagons to early automobiles traveloregon.comtraveloregon.com. Visitors can see a genuine Conestoga wagon or ox-drawn freight wagon of the kind that hauled goods on the Oregon Trail or to nearby gold mines. There’s a beautifully restored Victorian-era buggy and even a hearse wagon with intricate woodwork – these carriages illustrate how people traveled and conducted business in the 1800s. One of the pride pieces is an “army escort wagon” – a sturdy wagon used by the military for transport, similar to those that would have supplied Fort Dalles. In the automotive category, the museum displays a couple of early 1900s automobiles (sometimes described as “horseless carriages”) which show the transition from horse-drawn to motorized transport.

• Anderson Homestead: Across the street from the Surgeon's Quarters stands the Anderson Homestead, another historic feature of the museum complex traveloregon.comtraveloregon.com. This is a log farmhouse built in 1895 by Swedish immigrant pioneers in the nearby hills, later moved to the museum site for preservation. The homestead includes a authentic hand-hewn log cabin and a barn, furnished to depict typical pioneer farm life at the turn of the century. Inside the cabin, you’ll find a wood-burning cookstove, a simple bedroom loft, and artifacts reflecting the daily chores of homesteaders – butter crocks, farm tools, and handmade quilts. The Anderson Homestead complements Fort Dalles Museum’s story by carrying the timeline beyond the military era into early statehood and settlement life. Together, the fort building and the homestead allow visitors to compare an Army officer’s lifestyle with that of a humble farmer.

Heritage Tourism and Community Role: Over the many decades since its founding, Fort Dalles Museum has become a cornerstone of heritage tourism in the Columbia Gorge. Generations of schoolchildren have taken field trips to learn about frontier life and the Oregon Trail. The museum frequently participates in community events. For instance, historical reenactments and living history demonstrations are sometimes held on the grounds – one might encounter costumed volunteers portraying a 1860s Army drill or demonstrating how to load a muzzle-loader rifle. On special occasions, the museum has showcased Civil War-era medical techniques (in a controlled, educational manner) using replica tools to explain how surgeons amputated limbs or treated common ailments – connecting directly to the Civil War medical themes in its collection.

The museum also benefits from partnerships: it is jointly funded by Wasco County and the City of The Dalles as a public museum, and a nonprofit support group, the Fort Dalles Museum/Anderson Homestead Foundation (established 2010), assists with fundraising and preservation grants. These collaborations have enabled crucial restoration projects. For example, in 2010 the museum undertook a major restoration of the Surgeon’s Quarters windows and stonework. Skilled craftsmen carefully restored the original hand-made window sashes (dating back to 1856) by scraping off mineral deposits and repairing wood with period-appropriate tools. The iconic stone chimneys – which had begun crumbling – were rebuilt using local stone and lime mortar to match the original appearance. The Anderson Barn’s wooden shake roof was also replaced using historical methods (wooden shakes nailed directly to slats, no modern plywood) to preserve the structure’s integrity. These efforts show the dedication to keeping the buildings as authentic as possible, so visitors can truly feel they’ve stepped back in time.

One cannot overstate the significance of the Sorosis Club and other women’s groups in the museum’s history. The Dalles Sorosis Club not only saved the fort building initially, but also had a wider impact on the town – they were instrumental in establishing Sorosis Park, The Dalles’ largest park, and engaged in many civic improvements columbiacommunityconnection.com. This mirrors a broader trend in the Pacific Northwest and the U.S., where women’s clubs around 1900 often took the lead in historic preservation (long before governments did so). Thanks to their vision, Fort Dalles Museum stands today as a testament to both the frontier era and the early preservation movement led by women.

Legacy of Fort Dalles: Today, visitors to The Dalles can hardly imagine that this peaceful Columbia Gorge town was once a militarized frontier checkpoint and the “gateway” where pioneers ended their long journey. Yet the legacy is preserved – not only in the museum, but in the very layout of the city. The Fort Dalles grounds are now surrounded by a residential neighborhood on the hill above downtown. A casual passerby might see a picturesque old house (the Surgeon’s Quarters) and think it just another old home, but stepping inside reveals a trove of history. Fort Dalles Museum allows one to stand in the same rooms where Army doctors cared for patients, where officers planned campaigns and where families tried to recreate a bit of genteel life so far from their original homes.

The museum has been recognized for its importance: it is officially part of the Oregon National Historic Trail interpretive network and featured in heritage tourism guides. For example, Travel Oregon highlights Fort Dalles Museum as “one of Oregon’s oldest history museums” and notes the “insight into life in Oregon in the mid-1800s” that the exhibits provide traveloregon.comtraveloregon.com. Visitors consistently find the experience rewarding; many are surprised at the extensive collection in what looks like a “cool little history museum off the beaten path,” as one reviewer put it traveloregon.com. Indeed, seeing the “pretty buildings” – the Gothic house, the classic red barn with antique carriages, and the rough-hewn log homestead – against the backdrop of the sunny, dry Eastern Oregon climate gives a vivid sense of contrast between frontier hardship and human resilience traveloregon.comtraveloregon.com. Heritage tourists in the Columbia Gorge often pair a visit to Fort Dalles Museum with other historical sites (such as the original 1859 Wasco County Courthouse Museum downtown, or the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center which covers natural and Indigenous history). In this way, The Dalles has become a rich destination for those interested in the intertwining stories of Native American life, the Oregon Trail, military history, and pioneer settlement.

The saga of Fort Dalles – from its 1850 establishment during the Antebellum period, through its active years in the Indian Wars and Civil War era, to its quiet closure and eventual rebirth as a museum – encapsulates the broader themes of 19th-century America. It speaks to Manifest Destiny and westward expansion, the clash and coexistence of cultures, the daily grind of frontier life, and the importance of preserving our past. Thanks to community efforts, one can walk the grounds of Fort Dalles Museum today and practically hear the echoes of soldiers’ boots on the parade ground, the creak of wagon wheels, and maybe the laughter of pioneer children chasing each other under the Oregon sun. It is truly a place where, as the museum aptly promises, history comes alive

Sources: Preservation by Sorosis Society and transfer to OHSoregonencyclopedia.org; Museum opening 1905fortdallesmuseum.orgoregonencyclopedia.org; ; Travel Oregon description (oldest museum, housed in Surgeon’s Quarters)traveloregon.com; TripAdvisor review quotestraveloregon.com; Sorosis Club involvementcolumbiacommunityconnection.comfortdallesmuseum.org; Wasco County size and historysites.google.com (context).

Frontier Life at Fort Dalles – Soldiers, Settlers and Medicine on the 19th-Century Frontier

Life on an Isolated Frontier Post: In the late 1850s and 1860s, Fort Dalles stood as a relatively comfortable oasis of civilization on the Columbia Plateau – yet it was still a remote frontier garrison, hundreds of miles from urban centers. Daily life for the officers, enlisted soldiers, and a few accompanying families mixed routine military duty with the challenges of frontier living. After the Yakima War wound down, Fort Dalles’s importance diminished and the troop levels dropped, but the Army did not abandon the post immediately. In fact, when the American Civil War erupted in 1861, most regular Army units were transferred east, and volunteer regiments from California and Oregon took over Western posts. Fort Dalles was garrisoned by volunteer soldiers during the 1860s and served as a supply depot and staging area for smaller campaigns against Indigenous groups farther afield oregonencyclopedia.org. For example, in the early 1860s, expeditions were launched from Fort Dalles against the Northern Paiute people in southeastern Oregon, as conflicts (sometimes called the Snake War) flared due to encroachment on those lands oregonencyclopedia.org. The fort also hosted a unique contingent in 1867 – seventy-five Warm Springs Indian Scouts were stationed there, Native allies enlisted to help the U.S. Army in tracking hostile bands in Oregon oregonencyclopedia.org. By that year (1867), the Army finally decided Fort Dalles was no longer needed, and the post was officially abandoned in summer 1867 oregonencyclopedia.org.

For the soldiers at Fort Dalles, routine garrison duties filled much of their time. They drilled on the parade ground, stood guard at the fort’s gates and guardhouse, and performed endless fatigue duties – chopping wood, tending to horses in the stables, hauling water, and maintaining the buildings. Soldiers also built and improved roads in the region oregonencyclopedia.org. One key road led south from The Dalles toward central Oregon and was part of what became known as The Dalles–California Trail (later a wagon road and stagecoach route connecting to California). The Army’s presence contributed to safer travel for settlers and mail coaches on these routes. Fort Dalles personnel provided assistance to emigrants when needed – a continuation of its early mission. Even after the heyday of the Oregon Trail migration, smaller groups of travelers and freighters passed through The Dalles, and a military post offered some protection and services (like blacksmithing or emergency rations). The nearby town, Dalles City, grew alongside the fort, benefiting from Army procurement of supplies. By the 1860s The Dalles had stores, saloons, and civilian homes, so soldiers on leave could visit town for diversion.

Social Life and Army Families: Unlike some frontier forts that were lonely bachelor outposts, Fort Dalles occasionally had officers’ wives and children present, especially in the late 1850s. These women played an important role in fort community life. They organized social gatherings, such as dances and dinner parties, that provided welcome entertainment in an isolated locale. The fine officers’ houses built in the Gothic Revival style became homes where families strove to maintain Victorian domestic norms even on the frontier. One such woman, Julia Gilliss, arrived as a new bride in 1865 and later wrote memoirs about her Army life (titled “So Far from Home: An Army Bride on the Western Frontier”). Julia noted the quality of the quarters at Fort Dalles – reputed to be the best in the Pacific Northwest – which helped soften some hardships oregonencyclopedia.org. Still, life could be spartan. Winters were cold and windy, and despite the stylish exteriors, those large houses could be drafty and difficult to heat. Supplies of fresh food were limited; families relied on staples and whatever produce the fort’s gardener could grow. (Fort Dalles did have a small farm garden and even a dedicated gardener’s cottage – a two-room structure built near a spring, where an Army-employed gardener cultivated vegetables for the garrison)

Women at the fort often formed close friendships with one another, sharing the bonds of being far from their Eastern homes. They sewed, prepared meals, tended children, and sometimes taught any post school-age children together. “Army wives” on the frontier were expected to uphold morale and create a semblance of cultured society; many rose to the challenge by holding teas, forming reading clubs, or assisting in nursing sick soldiers. At Fort Dalles, officers’ wives likely accompanied their husbands on rides and picnics in the scenic Columbia Gorge when it was safe. They also witnessed the mix of cultures at The Dalles – not only soldiers and settlers, but Native Americans who still came to fish at nearby Celilo Falls under treaty rights. Such encounters could be eye-opening. Some Army wives were empathetic to the plight of local tribes, while others shared the common prejudices of the era. Regardless, women’s presence at Fort Dalles added a humanizing dimension to what could have otherwise been a grim frontier post.

The Dalles During the Civil War: Although Oregon was far from the battlefields of the Civil War, the conflict’s impact was felt even in The Dalles. Oregon had become a state in 1859, entering the Union as a free state, and most Oregonians supported the Union cause. However, communities were politically divided; The Dalles area tended to lean Democratic in the 1860s (the Democratic Party then included many Southern sympathizers). News of the war traveled slowly to this corner of the country, but local newspapers and telegrams kept citizens informed of major events. Fort Dalles itself remained under federal (Union) control with the volunteer troops. In practical terms, the Civil War meant that regular Army officers like Colonel Wright and others were reassigned away from Oregon, and locally raised volunteer units (such as the 1st Oregon Infantry Regiment) manned posts until war’s end. These volunteers continued to monitor the frontiers and engaged in skirmishes with Indigenous groups rather than Confederate forces.

One fascinating Civil War-era anecdote at Fort Dalles involves Ulysses S. Grant, who would later become the famous Union general and U.S. President. Grant was a junior Army officer stationed at Fort Vancouver (Washington Territory) in the early 1850s. In October 1852, Lieutenant Grant briefly visited The Dalles while serving as a quartermaster. He wrote to his wife Julia that he “had been up to The Dalles and bought a number of oxen, cows and hogs from immigrants who had stopped there on their way to western Oregon.” Grant arranged to have the livestock fattened over winter so he could sell them at a profit in the spring themossback.tripod.com. This side venture was an attempt by the underpaid officer to earn extra income – he noted that if even some of the animals survived the winter, he stood to “clear at least one hundred percent” on his investment themossback.tripod.com. Grant’s visit underscores The Dalles’ role as a market hub where arriving wagon trains often sold off excess animals and supplies before dispersing to the Willamette Valley. Years later, during the 1868 presidential election, The Dalles showed its regard for Grant in another way: local residents formed a “Grant Club” to support his candidacy. The club’s members (including prominent townsmen Z. Donnell, C.C. Crandall, and others) held rallies and even commissioned their wives to hand-sew an enormous American flag as a banner for Grant’s cause. Lulu Crandall, the daughter of one organizer, recalled that the club’s flagpole and gathering point were on a hill just west of the old fort hospital (Grant ultimately lost Oregon’s electoral vote in 1868, as Oregon’s populace leaned Democratic, but he won the presidency. He later carried Oregon in his 1872 re-election fortdallesmuseum.org.) That 1868 flag, lovingly stitched by The Dalles’ women, survives to this day as a treasured artifact at the Fort Dalles Museum fortdallesmuseum.org – a tangible link between the frontier town and the Civil War hero.

Frontier Medicine at Fort Dalles: One of the most significant roles at Fort Dalles was played by the post surgeon, who not only cared for the garrison’s medical needs but sometimes attended civilian settlers and travelers as well. In the mid-1850s, during the Yakima War, Assistant Surgeon Dr. Joseph Bullock Brown was stationed at Fort Dalles. Dr. Brown lived in the newly built Surgeon’s Quarters (today’s museum building) from 1856 to 1859 fortdallesmuseum.org. He had an army hospital at his disposal – one of the buildings General Wool had ordered in 1855 was a proper hospital facility to replace the makeshift infirmaries of earlier years oregonencyclopedia.org. What was military medical care like in the 1850s? By modern standards, frontier medicine was primitive. Army doctors of that era had limited tools and knowledge. Germ theory and antibiotics were unknown (Louis Pasteur’s germ theory would not be widely accepted until the late 1860s-1870s), and antiseptic surgical practices were not yet in use. Disease was the biggest killer. At Fort Dalles, soldiers contended with illnesses like dysentery, fevers, and scurvy from poor diet. Vaccines existed only for smallpox (and were sometimes administered by Army doctors), but outbreaks of measles and other infectious diseases could sweep through the fort – much as measles had devastated local Native communities.

When injuries or serious ailments struck, amputation was often the surgeon’s only lifesaving option if a limb was badly infected or shattered. Civil War-era surgical kits, of the kind Dr. Brown would have used, contained grisly but essential instruments: a bone saw for cutting through limbs, amputation knives of various lengths, tourniquets to stem bleeding, forceps and tenacula for extracting bullets or tying arteries, and perhaps a catheter and basic probes archives.gov. Indeed, roughly three-quarters of all operations performed during the Civil War were amputations – about 60,000 amputations in total – reflecting how common and necessary this procedure was in an age before effective treatment of infection archives.gov. Fort Dalles’ hospital would have been equipped with at least one such surgical kit. By the late 1850s, anesthesia (ether or chloroform) was being used by Army surgeons, so patients could be rendered unconscious during major operations – a relatively new medical advancement at the time. Nonetheless, recovering from surgery on the frontier was perilous. If gangrene set in, there was little a surgeon could do beyond more amputations or dosing the patient with whatever medicines he had (like quinine, laudanum, or calomel). It is a testament to Dr. Brown’s skill and dedication that he served through the Yakama conflict treating wounded soldiers. After leaving Fort Dalles, Dr. Brown was later honored by being commissioned a full Surgeon (Major) by President Lincoln in 1861 for his capable service. He went on to serve as a medical director in the Civil War’s Army of the Potomac, but he always remembered Oregon – he kept up with historical and scientific studies and his portrait today hangs in the Fort Dalles Museum to commemorate his role.

Beyond formal medicine, much of the daily life health care at Fort Dalles fell to home remedies and the care provided by women. For minor sickness, remedies might include herbal teas, poultices, or patent medicines shipped from back East. The fort’s sutler (civilian trader) likely stocked some drugs and tonics. Injured animals (horses and mules) were tended by the fort’s farrier or veterinary-minded soldiers – the Army could ill afford to lose valuable livestock in such a remote post. The presence of the nearby Columbia River and springs meant a good water supply, but also the risk of waterborne disease if sanitation lapsed. Soldiers were detailed to dig latrines and dispose of garbage properly, tasks that could be tiresome but were crucial for preventing illness.

Interactions with Native Tribes: Even after the wars of the 1850s, Fort Dalles remained connected to the region’s Native peoples. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, including many Wasco and Walla Walla people who had historical ties to The Dalles, generally maintained a friendly relationship with the U.S. Army following the treaties. In fact, as noted, Warm Springs scouts served alongside Army units. These scouts were instrumental in tracking hostile bands of Paiute or other tribes during the 1860s, leveraging their knowledge of the terrain. There were times when Native families came to The Dalles on peaceful business – for instance, to trade or because they had permission to fish at their ancient fisheries on the Columbia. The soldiers at Fort Dalles, by and large, enforced the new order of the reservation era, which restricted Native movements. But there were also moments of camaraderie: some accounts from other Oregon forts describe soldiers and Indian scouts sharing meals or Native leaders visiting fort commanders. Fort Dalles, being adjacent to one of the greatest Native trade centers (Celilo), must have seen its share of such encounters. By 1866, the completion of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company’s portage railway around the Cascades and Celilo Falls started to change the dynamic of the area’s economy, drawing down the centuries-old tribal trade in favor of American commercial enterprises. One can imagine soldiers standing on the bluff, watching steamships chug upriver and reflecting on how quickly the world around Fort Dalles was changing.

Closure of Fort Dalles (1867): After the Civil War, the U.S. Army reassessed its forts in the Pacific Northwest. With most conflicts in the region subdued and Reconstruction demanding attention (and funds) back East, the Army decided to consolidate. In the summer of 1867, Fort Dalles was officially abandoned oregonencyclopedia.org. The remaining troops were withdrawn, and The Dalles was left without a military presence for the first time in 17 years. The fort’s role as guardian of the Oregon Trail and regional depot had been superseded by new developments: Fort Walla Walla and Fort Boise (in Idaho) now covered the inland routes, and settlements were growing up that had their own law enforcement. The vast ten-square-mile military reservation around Fort Dalles, established back in 1850, suddenly fell quiet oregonencyclopedia.org. Over the next few years, the U.S. Congress gradually shrunk the military reservation – in 1867 and again in 1871 – opening up more land for the expanding town of The Dalles oregonencyclopedia.org. By 1877, all remaining fort lands had been transferred to the Department of the Interior for public disposition oregonencyclopedia.org.

What became of the fort itself? Many buildings were simply left to the elements or auctioned off. It’s recorded that some structures were dismantled for their lumber. Others might have been used by squatters or repurposed by locals. Within two decades, most of the picturesque Gothic cottages and barracks had fallen into decay. A photograph from about 1890 shows the abandoned buildings of Fort Dalles, roofs sagging and weeds overtaking the parade ground. The once grand Colonel Wright house and other officers’ quarters deteriorated. The site that had bustled with bugle calls and drill was reverting to a quiet hillside, with only memories of its frontier days lingering among the ruins.

Yet, The Dalles did not forget the fort’s significance. Even as the Army left, the community it had protected was thriving. Dalles City continued as the seat of Wasco County, and the economy shifted to agriculture, trade, and transportation (the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, and later the railroad, made The Dalles a key shipping point for wheat and goods). Former fort lands became neighborhoods and orchards. A sense of heritage began to develop among residents. They knew that on those grounds Americans and Native peoples had fought, negotiated, lived, and died – a pivotal chapter of Oregon history.

In our next post, we will see how local citizens saved the last remaining fort building and established the Fort Dalles Museum. The story comes full circle as we explore the museum’s creation in 1905, its collections of pioneer and military artifacts, and how Fort Dalles’s legacy is preserved today for heritage tourism and education.

Sources: Civil War volunteers and Paiute expeditionsoregonencyclopedia.org; Warm Springs scouts in 1867oregonencyclopedia.org; Fort abandoned in 1867oregonencyclopedia.org; Julia Gillis letter remarkoregonencyclopedia.org; Gardener’s cottage infofortdallesmuseum.org; Grant’s 1852 livestock venturethemossback.tripod.com; Civil War medical tools and amputationsarchives.govarchives.gov; Fort lands reduction and transferoregonencyclopedia.org; A

Antebellum Oregon and the Founding of Fort Dalles

Celilo Falls and Early Oregon: Long before any fort was built, the area of The Dalles was a thriving gathering place for Native American tribes. For over 10,000 years, Indigenous peoples converged at Celilo Falls on the Columbia River to fish and trade, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited regions in North America oregonencyclopedia.org. The Wasco (Wasq’ó-pam) people lived in this area; their descendants are part of today’s Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs oregonencyclopedia.org. When Meriwether Lewis and William Clark passed through in 1805, they noted the treacherous rapids and established a camp (Rock Fort Camp) at The Dalles during their journey oregonencyclopedia.org. The very name “The Dalles” comes from French-Canadian fur traders, les dalles, describing the columnar basalt narrows of the river oregonencyclopedia.org. By the 1830s and 1840s, this area had also drawn missionaries – Daniel Lee and Henry K.W. Perkins set up the Wascopam Mission in 1838 to minister to local tribes. Their outpost, along with Marcus and Narcissa Whitman’s mission in Walla Walla (est. 1836), offered aid to the growing stream of overland emigrants arriving each fall via the Oregon Trail.

Oregon Trail Gateway: By the 1840s, The Dalles had become a critical junction for pioneers. It marked the end of the overland Oregon Trail – wagon travelers could go no further west along the river’s south bank because of the Cascade Mountains barrier. From The Dalles, emigrants had to make a choice: build rafts to float down the Columbia River’s dangerous rapids or wait for transport to Fort Vancouver, or detour south over the rugged new Barlow Road (opened in 1846) to bypass Mount Hood oregonencyclopedia.org. Thousands of emigrants arrived exhausted, often ill and starving, needing assistance. Mission stations at The Dalles and Walla Walla became humanitarian waypoints, helping “starving, ill, and often desperate emigrants” facing the last obstacle of their journey The influx of settlers and their wagons across Indigenous lands, however, brought dire consequences for Native communities. Unlike transient fur traders or missionaries, these pioneers came to stay – bringing plows, livestock, families, and unfortunately, new diseases. Epidemics of measles, smallpox, and other illnesses ravaged local tribes who lacked immunity. In 1847, a measles outbreak led to tragedy at the Whitman Mission: Dr. Whitman saved settler children but could not cure Cayuse Indian children, leading to suspicions that he was poisoning Natives. In desperation and grief, Cayuse warriors attacked the mission, killing the Whitmans and others. This Whitman Massacre and its aftermath (the Cayuse War of 1848) alarmed American authorities and settlers, prompting calls for a stronger U.S. military presence in the region.

Oregon Territory and Manifest Destiny: In 1848, the United States formally created Oregon Territory, asserting control after settling a boundary with Britain (at latitude 49° by the 1846 treaty) history.com. The American drive westward was fueled by Manifest Destiny, the widespread belief that Americans were divinely destined to spread their democracy and civilization across the continent. Expansionist politicians like President James K. Polk embraced this ideology – Polk even campaigned with the slogan “54°40′ or fight!” to assert U.S. claims over all Oregon Country up to the Alaska line history.com. While cooler heads prevailed (Oregon was split with Britain at the 49th parallel), thousands of settlers were enticed by promises of fertile land. The Donation Land Act of 1850 offered free acreage to American settlers in Oregon, accelerating “Oregon Fever.” This rapid influx of colonists, justified by manifest destiny rhetoric, led to rising tensions and conflicts with Native peoples. By the early 1850s, the U.S. territorial government pressured tribes into treaties: in 1855, local tribes including the Wasco and Warm Springs peoples were compelled to sign treaties ceding vast lands and confining themselves to reservations (such as the Warm Springs Reservation) oregonencyclopedia.org. Many Native families were removed from their ancestral fishing sites at The Dalles, even as some rights (like tribal salmon fishing at Celilo) were reserved by treaty and continued for another century.

Establishment of Fort Dalles (1850–1856): In response to these unfolding events, the U.S. Army arrived to secure the Oregon Trail route and protect American interests. A small post was first established at The Dalles in 1850. Initially called Camp Drum (after Lt. Simon H. Drum, an Army officer killed in the Mexican–American War) and then Fort Drum, it was renamed Fort Dalles in 1853 oregonencyclopedia.org. The site chosen was a bluff above the Columbia River near the old mission. Early on, Fort Dalles was a rudimentary frontier outpost. The first garrison, two companies of U.S. Mounted Rifles, found only the old Wascopam mission buildings available for shelter – wholly inadequate for military needs oregonencyclopedia.org. Soldiers and local settlers hastily erected makeshift structures: a log officers’ quarters, a small frame barracks for enlisted men, a storehouse, stables, and workshops for a blacksmith and carpenter oregonencyclopedia.org. Lieutenant Lawrence Kip, arriving in 1855, described these original buildings as “remarkably primitive”, noting that “little attention had been bestowed upon their architecture”oregonencyclopedia.org. In essence, Fort Dalles in its first years was a rough cluster of cabins and sheds, offering only basic shelter from the harsh winters and hot summers of the Columbia Plateau.

Despite its humble beginnings, Fort Dalles occupied a strategic position. It sat at the gateway to the Inland Empire, guarding the corridor between the Cascade Mountains and the high plateau. By the mid-1850s, it wasn’t just pioneers passing through. The discovery of gold in eastern Oregon and Washington (beginning in the early 1850s) turned The Dalles into a key supply link between mining regions and the Willamette Valley. Steamboats began running between Portland and The Dalles, ferrying prospectors upriver and hauling gold ore downriver oregonencyclopedia.org. Fort Dalles, as a U.S. Army post, helped provide a semblance of law and order amid the influx of miners and fortune-seekers.

Indian Wars and Fort Expansion (1855–1858): Tensions between Americans and Native peoples reached a boiling point in 1855 with the outbreak of the Yakima (Yakama) War. Following the 1855 treaties, many tribes were frustrated by encroachments on their lands and failures of the government to prevent miners and settlers from trespassing. In late 1855, conflicts erupted in the Yakima Valley to the north. Fort Dalles suddenly became the forward headquarters for U.S. military campaigns east of the Cascade Mountains oregonencyclopedia.org. General John E. Wool, commander of the Army’s Pacific Department, ordered a major expansion of Fort Dalles at the end of 1855 oregonencyclopedia.org. By November 30, 1855, Wool directed that Fort Dalles be built up to serve as a major depot and staging base, with new permanent structures: officers’ quarters, enlisted barracks, a hospital, guardhouse, and expanded stables oregonencyclopedia.org. At that time, the fort’s manpower swelled – about 575 U.S. Army soldiers were stationed there (companies from the 4th Infantry, 3rd Artillery, and 1st Dragoons) oregonencyclopedia.org. In January 1856, the newly arrived 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment was ordered to make Fort Dalles its regimental headquarters under Colonel George Wright, concentrating troops there for campaigns into the interior oregonencyclopedia.org. From Fort Dalles, Army units fanned out on expeditions against Yakama, Palouse, and other tribes in 1856–1858, and the fort became the primary supply depot supporting new posts being established such as Fort Walla Walla (in Washington Territory) and Fort Simcoe (Yakima region)

It was during this period, in the heat of war, that Fort Dalles underwent a dramatic transformation – from a cluster of log huts to a more elaborate, even architecturally ambitious, military complex. Assistant Quartermaster Captain Thomas Jordan was put in charge of constructing permanent buildings in 1856–57 oregonencyclopedia.org. He had an unlikely partner in this effort: his civilian clerk, a young German immigrant named Louis Scholl, who happened to be a talented draftsman and artist Jordan and Scholl drew inspiration from a popular architectural pattern book by Andrew Jackson Downing, adapting the East Coast “Picturesque” Gothic cottage style to the needs of a frontier fortoregonencyclopedia.org. The result was truly unique for an Army post. By 1857, plans were in place for fourteen new buildings laid out in an octagonal arrangement around a central parade ground oregonencyclopedia.org. These included an imposing two-story commanding officer’s residence, separate quarters for captains and lieutenants, a Surgeon’s Quarters, an adjutant’s office, commissary and quartermaster storehouses, a guardhouse, and new barracks and stables oregonencyclopedia.org. In an era when most Western forts were simple blockhouses or plain log structures, Fort Dalles was to be an architectural showpiece.

A Gothic Revival Outpost: The designs featured hallmark Gothic Revival elements: pointed gables, decorative bargeboards, bay windows and porches, board-and-batten siding, and clustered brick chimneys oregonencyclopedia.org Scholl effectively turned frontier military buildings into charming Victorian cottages – scaled larger for Army use but still adorned with stylish touches. For example, the Surgeon’s Quarters (the post hospital residence) was based on Downing’s “Symmetrical Bracketed Cottage” plan, complete with an arched front doorway and ornamental trim oregonencyclopedia. As construction progressed, Fort Dalles began drawing national attention. Some praised it as an oasis of civility on the rugged frontier, but others criticized it as overly extravagant for a remote military station. One visiting officer’s wife, Julia Gillis, heard that Fort Dalles boasted “the best quarters for officers on this coast,” a testament to the comfort and quality of the new houses oregonencyclopedia.org. On the other hand, Army brass in California were alarmed at the costs. The Deputy Quartermaster General grumbled that the ornate Gothic cottages were “entirely unsuited to a military post on the frontier”oregonencyclopedia.org. Indeed, the price tag raised eyebrows: the post’s construction expenses from 1856–1858 totaled about $125,365, which Scholl and Jordan hastened to point out was actually less than what had been spent on other Pacific Coast forts like Fort Vancouver or Benicia in the same period oregonencyclopedia.org. A single house at Fort Dalles could cost several thousand dollars – Colonel Wright’s own residence reportedly cost around $22,000, a vast fortune in those days, for which Wright was sharply criticized by the government

Despite the criticisms, by 1858 Fort Dalles had been remade into what some dubbed the “Leavenworth of the Pacific,” after the large Army post in Kansas oregonencyclopedia.org. The graceful, rustic Gothic buildings encircled the parade ground, built with lumber milled on site and stone quarried locally. Many materials had to be hauled long distances by wagon – even some finished woodwork was packed over 100 miles from Fort Dalles to supply Fort Simcoe, illustrating how Fort Dalles acted as the logistical hub for the region.

End of an Era: Ironically, just as the fort reached its peak in appearance, its original purpose was waning. In 1858, Colonel George Wright decisively defeated hostile Yakama and allied tribes in a series of battles (such as the Battle of Four Lakes). The conclusion of the Yakima War in late 1858 removed much of the immediate “Indian threat” that had justified a large garrison oregonencyclopedia.org. The very next year, General William S. Harney, now commanding the Department of Oregon, suspended further construction at Fort Dalles in April 1859 oregonencyclopedia.org. The expensive building program came to a halt. Oregon, meanwhile, achieved statehood in 1859, transitioning from territory to the 33rd state. By that time, Fort Dalles had fulfilled its role in the tumultuous pre-Civil War chapter of the Pacific Northwest. It had safeguarded wagon train emigrants, anchored U.S. Army campaigns during the Indian wars of the 1850s, and helped establish American civil authority (for instance, Wasco County was created in 1854 with Dalles City as the county seat oregonencyclopedia.org). The first Wasco County Courthouse opened in 1859 not far from the fort – the first Territorial courthouse west of the Rockies oregonencyclopedia.org – symbolizing that a civilian rule of law had arrived on the once-lawless frontier.

In our next post, we will explore what life was like at Fort Dalles during the 1860s, the Civil War period, and how the fort’s story continued through daily life, military medicine, and the eventual closing of the fort.

Sources: Native trade and Celilo Fallsoregonencyclopedia.org; Whitman Manifest Destiny and Oregon Territoryhistory.com; The Dalles as Oregon Trail end and gold linkoregonencyclopedia.orgoregonencyclopedia.org; Fort Dalles establishment and early structuresoregonencyclopedia.org; Fort expansion and Yakima War roleoregonencyclopedia.orgoregonencyclopedia.org; Louis Scholl and Gothic Revival architectureoregonencyclopedia.orgoregonencyclopedia.org; Julia Gillis quote and cost criticismsoregonencyclopedia.org; Fort construction costsoregonencyclopedia.org; Harney halts constructionoregonencyclopedia.org; Fort Dalles strategic decline after 1858oregonencyclopedia.org; Wasco County and courthouseoregonencyclopedia.org.