Fort Dalles Museum: First military post east of the Cascades

Fort Dalles also holds a collection of antique vehicles in the museum. “There’s everything from 1850s and ‘60s wagons, to some early automotives. For example, there’s a 1902 Studebaker electric car. One of them’s in an enclosed building, the other one’s in an open shed. From my understanding, they were donated by various people over the years. Several of the cars were originally owned and donated by the American Legion. I think there’s one or two that are actually privately owned, and they’re just on loan on display here. I think the Studebaker is one of those.”

Pollock’s research confirms children were born at Fort Dalles. “So it was less than two decades that it was an active military installation, but in my own research, I’ve uncovered at least four children that were born here: Charlotte Haller was born here in August 1852, John Cromwell Dent August 1857, Edmund K. Jordan was born here in November of 1858, Louise Livingston Black was born in December 1859, ” he said. “There may have been others; those are four that I’ve actually verified.” In addition, Charles Vollmer Fritz was born in July 1874.

While the army generally didn’t make provisions for enlisted men’s wives and families to join them, that wasn’t the case for officers. “Occasionally, at different forts, there might be an enlisted man’s wife … maybe they worked in the hospital or as a laundress,” he said. “But for officers, the army made provisions for wives and family to accompany their husband and that was one of the reasons they built these nice officers’ houses, because they were again allowed to have their wife and family with them.”

Fort Dalles wasn’t always a history museum. “In 1904, the local ladies club, the Sorosis Club, got together a petition to Congress to have the surgeon’s quarters, and turned it into a museum,” he said. “So they opened as a museum in the old historic surgeon’s quarters in 1905.”

Volunteers are always welcome at Fort Dalles to help with visitors. Pollock said cruise ships come through regularly, as do school groups, “so if people are interested in working with the public, particularly if you have an interest in history and the 19th century,” they should stop by the museum for more information.

Besides tours of the grounds, Fort Dalles can be rented for weddings, gatherings, concerts and more. Because the museum is owned by the county, however, alcohol is not allowed.

Pollock has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Washington. He has held many jobs over the years, such as being a charter bus driver and working in the tourism industry until 2005, when he decided to go back to school. He went on to graduate school at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri, where he earned a master’s degree in history. Pollock then began working for the National Park Service.

“I spent a year working at Wilson Creek National Battlefield, which is a civil battlefield near Springfield, Missouri,” he said. “I had a summer seasonal position in 2008 at Fort Vancouver, and then I got a more permanent job at Ulysses Grant National site back in St. Louis, where I worked for nine years. I retired from the National Park Service, and I moved back to California, where I’m originally from, and I was kind of expecting to go work as a guide at Hearst Castle, but ended up working at the ticket office instead for about seven years,” said Pollock.

Pollock then began working at Fort Dalles Museum. His wife grew up in The Dalles, raising two sons here. Married for 24 years, she missed being near her sons, so when the opportunity at the museum came up, he took it.

When visitors come to Fort Dalles, he hopes they come away with an understanding of the area and the historic impact of the fort. “There were two really major issues that were prominent during those decades that this was an active military fort, which was the 1850s and ‘60,” he said. “So you’ve got this major issue of white, Euro-Americans clashing with the local Indigenous people who have been here for thousands of years. That’s a major issue, and the other major issue is the coming of the Civil War that is gonna be fought over the issue of slavery. So hopefully people who come here will learn something about those two things, and the significance of this site in relation to those two things.”

That history isn’t always pretty; military commanders dealing with Native Americans were, in many cases, subjugating them, he said. Officers also had to decide which side to support during the Civil War, with several of them going on to play leading roles.

“There’s a lot here to see and learn about, and we are always happy to have folks who want to donate by buying [annual] memberships,” he said

For more information on Fort Dalles Museum, located at 500 W. 15th and Garrison, visit fortdallesmuseum.org or call 541-296-4547. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.