This page is about the city in Oregon. For the nearby geological formation called The Dalles, see Celilo Falls. For other uses see Dalles.The Dalles is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle (meaning either "sluice" or "flagstone" and referring to the columnar basalt rocks carved by the river), what the French-Canadian employees of the North West Company called the now-inundated rapids of the Columbia River between the present-day city and Celilo Falls. The population was 12,156 at the 2000 census and was estimated at 12,314 in 2009. Also in the same area was the Petite Dalles or Little Dalles, or Short Narrows, which is now also inundated.

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