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Oregon County
Wasco County, Oregon
The Dalles - the Oregon Trail's Columbia River terminus and the Rajneeshee bioterror attack - from the Oregon Trail's The Dalles terminal (The Dalles was the end of the overland Oregon Trail route - emigrants who arrived here faced the choice of dismantling their wagons and rafting the treacherous Columbia River rapids or paying for the Barlow Road toll route around Mount Hood - the decision made at The Dalles determined survival for thousands of emigrants) to the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack (the followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh who built the Rajneeshpuram commune in neighboring Wasco County contaminated The Dalles restaurant salad bars with Salmonella typhimurium in 1984 - sickening 751 people in the first and largest bioterrorism attack in American history).
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Office: Wasco County Emergency Management – 511 Washington Street, Suite 102, The Dalles, OR 97058 | (541) 506-2790 | Fax: (541) 506-2791 | 24-hour line: (541) 296-5454; Director is the Sheriff, with a dedicated Emergency Manager on staff. Publishes a Community Wildfire Protection Plan and Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan.
911/Dispatch: Wasco County Communications – 10-dispatcher center under the Sheriff’s Office, partnering with The Dalles Police Department and Mid-Columbia Fire; handled over 55,000 calls/CAD events in a recent fiscal year.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911. Wasco County faces genuine, active wildfire risk – the county maintains real-time perimeter mapping and post-fire property tax relief programs.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-84 serves The Dalles, the county seat, on the Columbia River in north-central Oregon.
Notes: Wasco County was established in 1854 – the huge original Wasco County once spanned from the Cascades to the Rocky Mountains before being subdivided into dozens of modern counties across Oregon, Idaho, and beyond.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Wasco County Building Codes Services – 2705 East Second Street, The Dalles, OR 97058 | (541) 298-4461.
Notes: The Dalles is genuinely one of the oldest continuously occupied places in North America, a Native trading and gathering site for over ten millennia before American missionaries established Wascopam Mission in 1838. The Dalles is famously the end of the Oregon Trail’s overland route – pioneers who didn’t take the 1846 Barlow Road around Mount Hood had to raft or boat the rest of the way down the treacherous Columbia River. The historic downtown includes Oregon’s oldest bookstore and the second Wasco County Courthouse (built 1883), site of the last public hanging in Oregon (1905), now a pub.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Wasco County Veterans Service Office – 401 E 3rd St, Suite 101, The Dalles, OR 97058 | (541) 506-2502 | Fax: (541) 506-2501 | [email protected] | Hours: Mon-Fri 9 AM-5 PM (closed noon lunch); CVSOs Russell Jones and Chelsea Perritt; monthly Veteran Coffee Social, 2nd Tuesday, 8 AM, Kainos Coffee, 418 E. Second St.
Federal: Loren R. Kaufman VA Clinic – (541) 296-3937 | Hours: Mon-Fri 8 AM-4:30 PM, no emergency services on-site. Oregon Veterans Home – The Dalles, 700 Veterans Dr | (541) 296-7190.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Wasco County Library District – The Dalles Public Library (largest branch), 722 Court St, The Dalles, OR 97058 | (541) 296-2815 | Hours: Mon-Thu 10 AM-7:30 PM (confirm Fri/Sat/Sun hours); includes a Children’s Library, Teen Wing, and Makerspace. Branches also in Southern Wasco and Dufur.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Riverfront Trail (10 miles along the Columbia between the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and The Dalles Dam) and the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine “end of the Oregon Trail by land” heritage and ten-thousand-year Native American occupation history are among the most distinctive and historically deep facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Wasco County Assessment and Taxation – confirm current phone via wascocountyor.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Nonprofit: Home At Last Humane Society – The Dalles, OR; serves Wasco, Sherman, Hood River, Skamania (WA), and Klickitat (WA) counties; provides spay/neuter, adoption, and outreach services in the Mid-Columbia region.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Wasco County Code Compliance – confirm current contact via wascocountyor.gov.
NOTES: Wasco County is the fifth county in the Oregon v2 redo’s fifth and final batch (Tillamook, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wasco, Washington, Wheeler, Yamhill). The genuine “end of the Oregon Trail by land” heritage – one of the deepest historical facts covered anywhere in this project – is a distinctive local highlight. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Wasco County
Wasco County is the Oregon Trail’s Columbia River terminus and the site of America’s first bioterrorism attack – The Dalles was where emigrants made the fateful choice between the Columbia River rapids and Barlow Road, and the 1984 Rajneeshee Salmonella attack on restaurant salad bars sickened 751 people in the largest bioterrorism incident in US history.
The Dalles (the county seat, population ~16,000) anchors the Columbia River Gorge’s Oregon side cherry orchard country and serves as the regional hub between Portland and Bend.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Wasco County Assessor at 511 Washington Street, Suite 306, The Dalles, OR 97058, phone 541-506-2530. OR Measure 50 limits assessed value increases.
Courts & Legal
Wasco County Circuit Court at 511 Washington Street, The Dalles, OR 97058, phone 541-506-2700, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
511 Washington St, The Dalles, OR 97058
(541) 506-2530
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Wasco County Circuit Court, The Dalles (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Wasco County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Wasco County Circuit Court 511 Washington Street, Room 305, The Dalles, OR 97058 (541) 506-2718 Wasco County is in north-central Oregon along the Columbia River, seated in The Dalles.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Oregon has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code, maintaining its own independent probate code under ORS Chapters 111 through 117. Probate is handled in the probate department of the Circuit Court in the county where the decedent lived (ORS 111.085). Oregon does not offer a separate unsupervised/informal probate track – its “simple estate” process and formal administration are the two paths.
Simple Estate Affidavit (ORS 114.505–114.560) – available when the total fair market value of the estate is $275,000 or less, made up of no more than $75,000 in personal property and no more than $200,000 in real property. The affidavit (“Affidavit of Claiming Successor”) cannot be filed until at least 30 days after death and must be filed with the clerk of the probate court. It requires a detailed asset description, a list of known creditors, and notice that claims are barred unless presented within 4 months of filing.
Full Probate Administration – required for estates that exceed the simple estate limits or don’t otherwise qualify. A personal representative is appointed by the court and administers the estate under ongoing court oversight.
Step 2: filing for administration
A petition for probate is filed in the Circuit Court in the county where the decedent resided (or, for simple estates, an Affidavit of Claiming Successor is filed with the probate clerk at least 30 days after death).
If a will exists, it’s filed with the petition or affidavit.
For full administration, the court appoints a personal representative and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
Notice is given to heirs, devisees, and creditors; claims against the estate must generally be presented within the statutory period.
The personal representative (or affiant, for simple estates) inventories assets, pays valid debts and taxes, and distributes what remains according to the will or Oregon’s intestacy laws.
Full administration closes once a final account is filed and approved by the court; simple estates close once assets are distributed and any required notices are filed.
What it costs
Filing fees vary; check with Wasco County directly for current fees.
Oregon imposes a state estate tax on estates exceeding approximately $1,000,000, with rates ranging from 10% to 16%. No state inheritance tax.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
511 Washington St, The Dalles, OR 97058
(541) 506-2580
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
511 Washington St, The Dalles, OR 97058
(541) 506-2530
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Public Health
2325 River Rd, The Dalles, OR 97058
(541) 506-2600
Department of Human Services
2325 River Rd, The Dalles, OR 97058
(541) 296-6206
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: North Central Public Health District (Wasco-Sherman) – (541) 506-2600.
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