WHERE THE PAST COMES TO LIFE

Take a fascinating trip through history at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum

story by PETER MURPHY | photos courtesy of COLUMBIA GORGE DISCOVERY CENTER AND MUSEUM

Less than five miles from where Lewis and Clark once made camp along the Columbia River, there’s a place for discovery by modern day travelers.

In 1805, the two men and their companions on the Corps of Discovery made camp near what would become The Dalles. Rock Fort, as it came to be called, is along Mill Creek, a tributary of the Columbia that flows through the city and into the river just west of downtown. Not far from there, on a similar promontory above the river known as Crates Point, sits the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Wasco County Historical Museum.

The official interpretive center of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, it commemorates the creation of the nation’s first designated National Scenic Area, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. But its 48,000 square feet are filled with exhibits that tell the multi-faceted story of the Gorge, from its geologic origins and Native American history to the arrival of white settlers and even the area’s flora and fauna. It houses the Wasco County Historical Museum in one wing, and comes alive with a famed raptor program, featuring seven birds of prey that live on-site due to injuries they sustained in the wild that render them non-releasable.

Marylee Jones, left, and the Yakama Nation’s Little Swan Dancers during the Discovery Center’s annual Indian Autumn celebration.

The Meyer Memorial River Gallery, above. At left, a dusting of snow on the Klickitat Hills beyond the Discovery Center, and Liberty, one of two resident bald eagles.

e $21 million facility was thoughtfully designed on its 54-acre plot between I-84 and the Columbia River. It opened in 1997, but not before two competing entities joined forces. ere had been grand talk about creating a Wasco County Historical Society building and a Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area building. Eventually, the two factions came to realize that working together would produce a ne facility for both.

Architect Jonah Cohen remembers the negotiations. “It was fascinating to watch how the two sides came together and the design played out,” he says. He calls the result an “amazing symbol of how government and individuals can work together to build a posterchild of design standards for the Scenic Area.”

One of the most striking design elements is the River Gallery, visible when you walk in the front entrance. Its high, rough-cut rock walls mimic the Gorge itself, with a granite “river” running through the oor.

Cohen recounts how the architects used a six-foot step ladder in the area that would become the River Gallery to visualize the center’s plan. at experiment resulted in its diagonal layout with views of the Gorge and the Klickitat Hills in the background. e building won the American Institute of Architects Honor Award for its appealing design.

To visit the Discovery Center is to nd a cornucopia of exhibits detailing the geology and beauty of the Gorge and the history of the peoples who have inhabited it. Permanent exhibitions tell of important events and activities that have shaped the Gorge, including an Ice Age exhibit that helps visitors understand how the Columbia Gorge is linked to that period of time, and the eons of physical changes wrought by the river that left the chasm we see today.

Another exhibit details the 10,000 years of indigenous Native American history of the Gorge, which makes it one of the oldest areas inhabited by humans in the western hemisphere. e early peoples established permanent settlements here and traded with other Native Americans who traveled from farther away to meet and exchange goods. Many things revolved around the salmon, which ran in great numbers through the river.

Yet another exhibit explores the cargo of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Interactive exhibits include a canvas tent like the ones used on the journey. You can step inside to see what it was like, bearing in mind that it sheltered up to six men. You can also feel the weight of items expedition members routinely carried. LuckyLittlesHR LuckyLittlesBoutique 201 Oak Street 541-436-3514 shopluckylittles.com

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Teaching a school group in the Kids Explorer Room, above. The museum grounds span 54 acres and include a riverfront trail and native plant walk, replica cabins and a teepee, right.

The Wasco County Historical Museum is a 17,200-square-foot wing of the facility that tells the story of what was once the largest county in the United States. It stretched from the peaks of the Oregon Cascades to the Continental Divide. Lewis and Clark trekked much of their journey across the Wasco County of old.

An exhibit lets you wander through a replica of The Dalles at the turn of the century. It includes old hotels and shops that remind visitors of the relatively new impacts made by immigrants who made their way to Oregon and left their indelible mark on its history.

Travelling exhibits come and go and have included those from the Smithsonian Institution, the Oregon Historical Society, and the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry. Members of the Yakima and Warm Springs tribes are also integral to activities at the Discovery Center; a multi-tribe fashion show is scheduled for November 2023.

Outside the center is a handicap accessible paved interpretive trail that winds through the museum grounds. Its stunning vistas provide the opportunity to consider the impact of the Missoula Floods that created the Gorge. If you let your imagination run, with a little help from the restored natural vegetation, you can picture the way the land looked even before man arrived: the rapids of the river, the huge runs of salmon leaping over the cascading falls (did you know “The Dalles” is French for describing the rapids in a deep, narrow stream confined between rock walls?) and wildlife of days gone by.

That’s the idea, according to Discovery Center board member Jill Durow, who was there from its inception. There was great attention paid to restoring the natural vegetation when the facility was built. “Even the circuit of paths around the center help tell about the way the Gorge was made and the wet-to-dry weather patterns from the western Gorge to the eastern end.”

The Discovery Center tells us of the days when Native Americans fished at Celilo Falls, when The Dalles was the economic hub of the region and steamboats plied the river, and when nearby Shaniko was the wool capitol of the Northwest.

But it’s not all about yesteryear at the Discovery Center. Casting an eye to the future is front and center too. As renewable energy in the form of wind farms have sprung up in the area to harness the blustery forces, the center has a new exhibit about environmental stewardship for the future. It’s about our energy sources for the years to come in the form of solar, wind and hydro — and the solar panels on site are actively producing electricity.

If you happen to arrive at the Discovery Center from Portland, the drive through the Columbia River Gorge takes you through one of nature’s grandest spectacles. Take the Historic Columbia River Highway where you can along the way, and you’ll see why it was known as the “King of Roads” for its dramatic route and views of the Gorge. The last section of the historic road takes you past the turn-off for the Discovery Center, where you can learn more about the landscape you just passed through. You’ll come away with new knowledge and a new perspective on the Gorge, the peoples who settled here, and its past, present and future.

“You’ll be surprised by how much it encompasses,” says Tammy Quinton, a volunteer at the Discovery Center. “It’s much more than a small-town offering.”

To learn more, go to gorgediscovery.org. Peter Murphy worked as a television news reporter and anchor prior to a 15-year stint as public information officer for the Oregon Department of Transportation. Based in Bend, he writes about Oregon for several regional publications.

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