Oregon Trail Interpretive Center
   
Visitors arriving at the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center will enjoy a grand view that overlooks a well-preserved segment of the Oregon Trail. Its setting is the great sagebrush steppe between the Rockies and the Cascades.
   
About the Center
What You Will See - Upon Arrival...
Upon entering the Center's lobby, visitors will be welcomed and oriented by Center staff and volunteers. In addition to the 150-seat Leo Adler Theater and adjacent Flagstaff Gallery, visitors will find more than 11,000 square feet of permanent exhibits, an information desk, thematic sales shop, restrooms and the Center's administrative offices. There is no restaurant available on site. Information desk staff are available to answer questions about the facility or other area attractions, and to provide any other assistance necessary to make the visitor experience safe and enjoyable. Once oriented, visitors will begin their self-guided journey through the stunning life-size trail scene recreated in the Main Gallery, setting the stage for their journey along the Oregon Trail.

 
The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center uses exhibits, sound effects, video presentations as part of its permanent exhibit telling the story of the emigrant experience and the impact of the Oregon Trail.
  
The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center features self-guided exhibits, incorporating state-of-the-art audiovisuals with life-size trail scenes. Pioneer figures, replica wagons, native wildlife and vegetation, and various artifacts allow visitors to experience a typical journey along the Oregon Trail. Three short closed-captioned videos are incorporated throughout the exhibits, providing visitors a deeper understanding of preparing for the journey, tribulations encountered along the way, and the hopes and dreams realized upon arrival and settlement in The Land of Milk and Honey.
 
The Center focuses on six themes related to westward migration and settlement:
 
Pioneer Life on the Oregon Trail
Mountain Men and early Trail Travelers
Native Americans along the Oregon Trail
Natural History along the Trail and in Eastern Oregon
Mining and Early Settlement
History of the General Land Office - Grazing Service - Bureau of Land Management.
   
Living history is used to literally bring to life aspects of the Trail experience. Presenters create factual and emotional perspectives of the era by using historically accurate words, music, songs, costuming, and props. In addition to an outdoor pioneer wagon encampment and a mining site, the 150 seat Leo Adler theater provides a "front row seat" to live history as the site of living history presentations and other educational programs.