Wasco

Wasco is the name of four places in the United States:

Places

United States

Chile

Native American

Wasco may also mean:

Companies

Wasco-Wishram

Wasco-Wishram are two closely related Chinook Indian tribes from the Columbia River in Oregon. Today the tribes are part of the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon and Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation in Washington.

History

The Wishram and Wasco are Plateau tribes that are closely related and share many cultural aspects of the Northwest Coast tribes. They lived along the banks of the Columbia River, near The Dalles. The Dalles were a prime trading location, and the tribes benefited from a vast trade network. Unfortunately, the 1800s brought non-Indians and European diseases, which took a great toll on the Wasco and Wishram populations. Both tribes were forced by the United States in 1855 to sign treaties ceding the majority of their lands. These treaties established the Warm Springs Reservation.

Wasco

Wasco comes from the word Wacq!ó, meaning "cup" or "small bowl," the name of a distinctive bowl-shaped rock near the tribe's primary historic village. They traditionally lived on the south bank of the Columbia River. In 1822, their population was estimated to be 900. They were divided into three subtribes: the Dalles Wasco or Wasco proper (a.k.a. the Ki-gal-twal-la on the south side of the Columbia River near The Dalles in Wasco County), the Hood River Wasco (on the Hood River or Dog River to its mouth into the Columbia River; Lewis and Clark grouped them with the White Salmon River Band and named them Smock-Shop Band of Chil-luck-kit-te-quaw, but they were two separate groups: White Salmon River Band in Washington and Hood River Band in Oregon, called Ninuhltidih (Curtis) or Kwikwulit (Mooney) and the Cascades Indians or Watlala (downstream from the other Wasco groups, two groups, one on each side of the Columbia River; the Oregon group were called Gahlawaihih [Curtis]). The Watlala, whose dialect is the most divergent dialect of the Wasco, may have been a separate tribe though identified as Wasco since 1830.

Wasco station

Wasco is an Amtrak station on the San Joaquin located in Wasco, California, United States. Free parking is available at the station, which has one platform on the west side of a single track. Of the 73 California stations served by Amtrak, this was the 49th-busiest in 2012, boarding or detraining an average of approximately 60 passengers daily.

History

Construction of the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad (SF&SJ) had reached the location, which would become Wasco. The SF&SJ constructed a small, open-air, two story station. It cost $4,500 and followed their standard No. 2 design. There was also a large window, facing the tracks, for the station master to observe activity down the tracks. The town, named Dewey, would develop around the station. It would later be renamed Wasco.

In 1899, the SF&SJ would be purchased by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. They would continue to use the station for passenger and freight service. In 1907, the station was extended, to serve a growing demand for freight. In the 1950s, the waiting room was enclosed. The second floor was also reorganized as sleeping quarters.