Google comes to Oregon

Google hqAccording to The Dalles Chronicle, Google will soon be opening a facility in The Dalles employing 50 to 100 people.

Port of The Dalles commissioners today approved a potential major land sale expected to bring 50 to 100 new jobs and millions of dollars in new investment to The Dalles.

Google, the California-based company that helps people find information on the Internet (identified in the agreement as Design LLC) agreed to pay a total of $1.87 million for 30.19 acres of land that comprise the state-certified industrial site within the port’s Chenoweth Creek Industrial Subdivision.

If initial development plans go forward, the project would create between 50 and 100 jobs over a matter of time, earning an estimated average of $60,000 annually in wages and benefits - twice the county average income, according to terms in the agreements.

Read the story at The Dalles Chronicle.

  • (Show?)

    Well, the first thing they'll need to do is teach the new Google-ites that come into town how to pronounce "The Dalles." I remember when I moved to Portland from NY the pronounciation debate I had with my equally clueless travel companion. Neither of us had the gumption to ask anyone in town during our gas and meal break what the correct answer was. I think money was on "rhymes with that city in Texas." Eeeg.

    Thankfully one of the Portland meteorologists spared us from our ignorance a few days later in a weather report. Thank you Rob Marciano or whoever the heck you were...

  • (Show?)

    And they should also be instructed never to drop the article. "The" is very important in The Dalles.

  • Jon (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Ah yes, Google. A long-time friend of free and unfettered speech:

    "Google's Gag Order: An Internet Giant Threatens Free Speech"

  • Rorovitz (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Jon,

    No, no. Try, major campaign donor to dems. I think htis may mean that by the time they get them folks up and running we'll get those state leg seats blue.

    This could be the thing that gets us the house! or a little closer.

  • Jon (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Don't get me wrong. I like Google and am happy to have them in OR.

    But they still need to change their arbitrary editorial policies that impact advertisers:

    "Google's Haphazard Policy" (The Nation)

  • (Show?)

    And they should also be instructed never to drop the article. "The" is very important in The Dalles.

    Ah, that's because "dalles" actually are something. After a trip through (past) The Dalles on the way to Montana (where somehow the sky really is bigger) a couple of my girlfriends and I pondered the question "What the hell are 'dalles' anyway?"

    So, since it's been addressed in a round-about way - for lifelong Oregonians (such as myself) and transplants alike, a piece of trivia:

    From Dictionary.com:

    dalles

    The rapids of a river that runs between the steep precipices of a gorge or narrow valley.

    So there you go. The Dalles seems to be quite appropriately named... now maybe someone can tell me... what, exactly, is a Salem? ;-)

    Oh yes, and welcome Google! And the many, many jobs that we so desperately need around here. Even if they are in The Dalles.

  • Aaron (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Hey

    More power to THE DALLES to land a small slice of a emerging high tech company.

    I think it is potentially a good sign for Oregon; but what the real cost for Google to come to Oregon? What incentives where doled out?

  • (Show?)

    The reference book you need for all your Oregon place name questions is the excellent "Oregon Geographic Names," now in its 7th edition with the Oregon Historical Society Press. (Seeing as I'm currently in the UK I don't have it with me to check the Salem reference, but I know it is in there.)

    Now, while a reference book like this may sound boring, the entries are full of entertaining stories about the ways over 6,200 Oregon places got their names. The Dalles, for instance, was named by French fur trappers, who came to the area in the early 1800s and called the rapids "les dalles" (accurately defined by cc, above). Some accounts state that the fast-flowing waters through narrow gorges reminded the French of the narrow flagstone gutters of French cities.

    The book itself is a great Oregon story. In 1928, Lewis A. McArthur published the book's first edition and kept going through two additional editions. His son, Lewis L. McArthur, took up the project and continued it through editions 4-7. His daughter is already getting to work on edition #8.

    Anyway, this is a great book and a fanstastic item to take on any Oregon road trip. Find out more at http://www.ohs.org/publications/ogn7.cfm

  • Aaron (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Rachel,

    Thanks for the historical site.

  • Eric Berg (unverified)
    (Show?)

    It comforts me to know I'm not the only one with a fondness for Oregon Geographic Names. I think I have three of them. I also couldn't do without the most recent editions of the Atlas of Oregon and Oregon Blue Book. I have Blue Books going back to 1903.

    "Salem", by the way, comes from "salom", Hebrew for "peace". It's worth noting that present-day Salem was known as Chemeketa, native for "place of peace".

    It's also worth noting that I didn't have to look any of this up in OGN. I'm a proud native Oregonian (born in Salem/raised nearby) and geo-geek.

  • (Show?)

    Back to the story...(though the geography lessons are appreciated! :>)

    ....by 2008, when single sales factor apportionment of multistate corporate profits for state corporate taxes is fully implemented, Google likely will be paying $10 a year in corporate income taxes. I can't imagine them having any sales out of Oregon.

  • (Show?)

    With the arrival of Google to The Dalles, it won't be too much longer until you can actually find a latte on a Sunday morning in "the little Red town that could". This has been a cultural difference indicator between Blue Hood River and Red The Dalles for the past several years..........

    And no, I don't measure foam content and I don't want sprinkles.

in the news 2005

connect with blueoregon