The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center is the official interpretive center for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. This 26,100 square foot exhibit wing holds interactive displays which bring to life the tremendous volcanic upheavals and raging floods that created the Gorge, theories of why ice age’s occur, the mighty River which sculpted patterns for a unique and spectacular diversity of vegetation, wildlife, and ancient life ways, and follow the currents that shape our futures in the Gorge.

The Wasco County Historical Museum is a 17,200 square foot exhibit wing which tells the stories of the people of Wasco County past and present. Once the largest county in the nation, Wasco County is home, place of work, and gateway to the interior of western North America.

This unique, one of a kind, exhibition draws on 16 years of original research to interpret the material goods involved in launching the transcontinental expedition. Ken Karsmizki's research has revealed that roughly 30 tons of equipment was hauled by the 33-man expedition. Original inventories in the National Archives document that Lewis divided his equipment needs into seven distinct categories: Indian presents, arms and accoutrements, medicines, clothing, mathematical instruments, camp equipment and provisions, and transportation. Replicas and period objects help visitors understand the rationale for bringing it all along for use, consumption, gift, and trade. 
 

A Kids Explorer Room offers hands-on fun learning opportunities for children of all ages featuring an archaeological dig for making discoveries, a keelboat model that must be carefully loaded to prevent capsizing, trunks of Lewis and Clark era clothing for kids to try on, puzzles, and more.

The 50 acres surrounding the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and the banks of the Columbia are habitat supportive of many life forms. An interpretive trail winds through this setting of cottonwoods, willows, cattails and sedges which give shelter and food to turtles, ducks, geese, eagles, raccoon, and songbirds. The trail also cuts through restored eastern Gorge vegetation featuring abundant wildflowers April through June, and golden hills and grasses in late summer. At any time of the year, visitors will be treated to our seasonal display of wildlife, signs interpreting flowers in bloom, and stunning vistas of the Columbia River Gorge and Klickitat hills.

A new, permanent exhibit is Ice Age Phase II, featuring a life-size 13-foot Columbian mammoth and interpretation of the role that the Ice Age played in peopling the Americas. 

  The exhibit explains why everything reached mammoth proportions during the Ice Age, how and why people migrated during this forbidding time, and why Ice Age theories are complex and incomplete. 

 The gorge is particularly linked to the Ice Age because of the role the Ice Age floods played in its creation. As legislators in Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon seek designation of the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, the region is drawing more interest from tourists wanting to find the touchstones of this dramatic period in the natural history of the Mid Columbia area. The exhibit is designed to spark interest and entice further exploration of the region. 

The Ice Age Exhibit includes a mural by Stev Ominski depicting the floods raging through the vicinity of The Dalles, as a herd of mammoths make their escape from the flood waters.

The mural is one of many painting's in Ominski's "Age's End" series, also on display at the Discovery Center. The paintings portray the end of the last Ice Age, when successive floods from Glacial Lake Missoula raced across Eastern Washington and into the Columbia River system. In their wake, coulees and scablands, gigantic gravel bars, and house-size erratic rocks were left to tell the tale.

As the geologic community continues to sort out the evidence with hammers, picks, and computer models, Ominski has turned this unfolding story into visual images from the past. A number of digital computer images, provided by geologist Bruce Bjornstad, help explain the research process for Ominski’s artwork. 

The Discovery Center has released a limited edition print of the painting “Ages End” available in the museum store.