A basket of magnets allows visitors to the Baker Heritage Museum choose items they'd like to bring in their wagon on the Oregon Trail, but without exceeding the weight limit for their team of oxen.

Kim Orr picks up the magnet labeled “pickles,” hesitates, then sets it back in the basket.

Instead, she chooses the one labeled “rice.”

“You don’t like rice, but we need it,” she says, securing it onto the display board.

Then she chooses another magnet.

“Piano! Yes!”

“You don’t even play the piano,” says Randy Yawn, sorting through the remaining magnets.

These two, who live in the Willamette Valley and spent Memorial Day weekend in Baker County, pretended to “pack the wagon” while exploring the new Oregon Trail exhibit at the Baker Heritage Museum, 2480 Grove St.

The display was created by the Bureau of Land Management’s National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center (NHOTIC), which is leasing space inside the museum while the center, about five miles east of Baker city, is closed for renovations for the next two years or so to improve its energy efficiency.

The Interpretive Center exhibit is in the Heritage Museum’s Leo Adler Room, and a full-size wagon is in the second-floor ballroom.

“The main priority is to stay relevant in the community while we’re closed,” said Sarah Sherman, NHOTIC project manager.

A grand opening of the new exhibits is set for Friday, June 3, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. as part of First Friday activities, with free admission, costumed interpreters and light refreshments.

“We appreciate the county’s willingness to provide a venue for us to continue to tell the story of the Oregon Trail, the settlement of Eastern Oregon, and the history of the Bureau of Land Management while we update the center for the next 30 years,” Wayne Monger, Vale District manager, said in a BLM press release.

In addition to the display, NHOTIC is planning special programs and performances this summer at Geiser-Pollman Park, just west of the museum across Grove Street.

Explore the trail

The exhibit begins with an introduction to the Oregon Trail, including the chance to pack a wagon with supplies for two adults and two children during the journey. A basket is full of magnets marked with items and the corresponding weight, and visitors can choose up to 2,400 pounds.

“Do your math carefully,” the instructions read. “Too much weight and the wagon will be too heavy for your oxen to pull.”

The display continues with “Across the Wide Prairie,” which details why emigrants came west, as well as who embarked on the trail.

Other panels cover adventures and obstacles the pioneers encountered, the displacement of Native Americans, and early preservations efforts, such as markers placed by Ezra Meeker.

The story then winds through trail preservation efforts by the Bureau of Land Management, including the building of the Interpretive Center, which opened May 23, 1992.

Other information in the exhibit details the Baker County Culture and Heritage Passport, which encourages everyone to visit participating locations in Baker County and obtain a special stamp in the provided passports.

Locations are the Baker Heritage Museum, Adler House Museum, Crossroads Carnegie Art Center, Sumpter Valley Railroad, Sumpter Valley Dredge, Sumpter Municipal Museum, Eastern Oregon Museum in Haines, Huntington Historical Museum and Pine Valley Museum in Halfway.

Baker Heritage Museum is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.

About the renovation

The $6.5 million renovation of the Interpretive Center includes new cement board siding, insulation, roofing, windows and doors, along with a new heating and cooling system.

Although the main road to the top of the hill is closed during the renovation, the Oregon Trail Ruts Access on Highway 86 will remain open to the public.

For more information and to learn more about the Oregon Trail, visit oregontrail.blm.gov or call 541-523-1843.