The Armstrong Nugget, discovered in 1913 near Susanville in Grant County, is the centerpiece of a new exhibit at the Baker Heritage Museum in Baker City. The display opens at 10 a.m. Friday, July 18. (Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald)

Baker City museum is open 7 days a week

BAKER CITY — Dick Stewart couldn’t move the rock with his boot.

Fellow miner George Armstrong managed to pick it up and, after a quick rinse, the miners saw the dull yellow of gold.

A lot of gold.

They found the rock on June 19, 1913, near Susanville in Grant County, along the Middle Fork John Day River.

The miners, along with Armstrong’s son, took the gold by train to Baker City.

“They were armed to the teeth, of course,” said Joyce Badgley Hunsaker, who talked about local gold history July 8 at the Baker Heritage Museum.

Armstrong deposited it at First National Bank.

“The nugget was 80.4 troy ounces of absolutely pure gold,” Hunsaker said.

The miners loaned against the gold for a year, then sold it to the bank in 1914 for $1,408.75, Hunsaker said.

“Strike It Rich,” a booklet by Robert C. Rapp Sr., recounts how John B. Rogers, who became bank president in 1947, decided to display the nugget for the public. First National merged with U.S. Bank in 1959, and for decades visitors could see the gold display and hear an audio recording by Stewart Sullivan, who worked at the bank for 20 years.

In 2023, U.S. Bank donated the entire gold display to Baker County.

And now the public can once again see the historic rock.

After major security upgrades, Baker Heritage Museum is opening the permanent exhibit “Echoes of the Rush: Relics of Eastern Oregon’s Golden Age.” It features the Armstrong Nugget along with an additional 1,000 ounces of gold in flakes and small nuggets.

The exhibit opens at 10 a.m. Friday, July 18, during Miners Jubilee.

The room’s mural was painted by local artist Amy VanGaasbeck. Also, the entrance, constructed by Pat Conley of Baker Welding, features a gate from OHP McCord & Son that was in the museum’s collection.

The museum, 2480 Grove St., is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

The new gold display featuring the Armstrong Nugget features custom-made cases, and a new security system that includes stronger doors at the museum and motion-detecting cameras at all entrances, including windows.

Friends of the Baker Heritage Museum raised more than $250,000 for the display and security upgrades. Baker County Commissioners gave the group $100,000 in lodging taxes in October 2024, and the museum friends also secured a $40,000 grant from the Leo Adler Foundation, $15,000 from the county, $6,000 from the D.E. and Jane Clark Foundation, $2,200 from Baker City Downtown, and $2,000 from the Tyler Foundation.