Rock Fort Campsite

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

From the record

“The Rock Fort Campsite is a natural fortification on the south shore of the Columbia River in The Dalles, Oregon, United States. The Lewis and Clark Expedition camped at this defensible spot for three nights in late October 1805, just after it passed Celilo Falls on its descent to the Pacific Ocean, and again for one night on their return journey.”
Wikipedia article Rock Fort Campsite, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 31 National Register listings published here for Wasco County · listed in 1980 · category: Site.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 site, 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
Address. Off I-80N, The Dalles, 97058
When was it listed? September 1980
Category. site
Census division. The Dalles
National Register reference number. 80003389 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

108 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 108 fires within 5 miles of Rock Fort Campsite between 1992 and 2020, burning about 85,892 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	37
Debris and open burning	15
Equipment and vehicle use	15
Railroad operations and maintenance	9
Fireworks	8
Smoking	5
Power generation/transmission/distribution	5
Recreation and ceremony	4
Misuse of fire by a minor	4
Other causes	4
Natural	1
Arson/incendiarism	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	14 acres	Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area	SHOOTING RANGE
9 September 1999	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area	RIVER RD
6 September 1999	Smoking	under an acre	Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area	GOLF COURSE
6 September 1998	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1,200 acres	Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area	THE DALLES MT. ROAD
30 September 1995	Smoking	under an acre	The Dalles Unit	BROWNS CREEK
30 September 1993	Smoking	under an acre	The Dalles Unit	CHENOWITH CREEK
3 September 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters	BROWNS CREEK
29 September 1992	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	The Dalles Unit	MILL CREEK #2

Every fire recorded in Wasco County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 47 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 47 workings within 5 miles of Rock Fort Campsite: 27 past producers, 19 producers, 1 plant. 20 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
(Facility) the Dalles Aluminum Smelter	Aluminum, Contained or Metal	Plant
Douthit Pit	Clay	Producer
Foley Lakes	Stone	Past Producer
Foley Lakes Pit	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Harvey	Stone	Past Producer
Harvey Pit	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Harvey Quarry	Stone	Past Producer
Harvey Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Martin	Stone	Past Producer
Martin Pit	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer

Every working recorded in Wasco County

Storms near this property

3 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names The Dalles, the town this property stands in, in 3 storm reports between 1998 and 2019: 1 heavy rain, 1 wildfire, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2002	Wildfire	The Dalles	$10,000	The Sheldon Ridge Fire, sparked by lightning, consumed 12,681 acres and eight structures, all of which were out buildings. Around 250 homes were threatened by the flames. Oregon National Guard Troops assisted in battling the flames.
August 2019	Flood	The Dalles	-	Several areas of flooding reported due to heavy rainfall and small hail.
June 1998	Heavy Rain	The Dalles	-	A thunderstorm that moved through The Dalles dumped up to 0.67 inches of rain in 20 minutes, knocked out power, and caused some flooding problems. The wind blew trees and tree limbs onto power lines causing power outages to much of the east side of town. Heavy rain caused minor street flooding, flooding of basements and businesses, and caused manhole covers to come loose. Rock slides were reported along hillsides. Pea sized hail was also reported.

Every storm recorded in Wasco County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
First Wasco County Courthouse	0.2 miles	1998
St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church	0.3 miles	1974
John L. Thompson House	0.3 miles	1980
Trevitt's Addition Historic District	0.3 miles	1995
US Post Office	0.4 miles	1985
Edward French House	0.4 miles	1992

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 80003389 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Wasco County	All 31 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.