From Washington To You
The Dalles Dam on the Columbia River with Mount Hood in the background.
Photograph by David Falconer, Environmental Protection Agency DOCUMERICA, June 1973. National Archives 548017. Public domain.

From Washington to you

The Dalles Dam

The Dalles Dam, Washington shore · Klickitat County · completed 1957

A Columbia River dam at river mile 192, completed in 1957, with the pin on the Washington shore of a project the Corps lists at The Dalles, Oregon.

The Dalles Lock and Dam was authorized by Congress for power and navigation in the 1950 Flood Control Act. The Corps says the project was built between 1952 and 1957 near The Dalles, Oregon, 192 miles upstream of the Pacific Ocean. The official location is The Dalles, Oregon. The project spans the Columbia; this pin sits on the Washington shore.

The Corps Quick Facts list the dam at 185 feet high and 2,640 feet long, completed in 1957, with 22 units and 1,780 megawatts. Lake Celilo extends 24 miles upstream to John Day Dam. The Corps calls the lock the second of eight on the Columbia–Snake inland waterway, a 465-mile water highway to Lewiston, Idaho, and says the lock passes up to 10 million tons of cargo a year.

USGS operated a total-dissolved-gas station, Columbia River at The Dalles Dam forebay, Washington, at 45°37′12″ N, 121°07′12″ W, river mile 192.6. The sources below are U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Geological Survey pages.

  • Geography & Geology
  • History

Sources (2)

Last reviewed: September 21, 2026

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The Dalles Dam · From Washington To You