Laserfiche WebLink
<br />(6) Ensuring safe and convenient access to recreation lands and facilities; and <br /> <br />(7) Maintaining, remodeling and upgrading park, recreational and cultural <br />facilities in order to respond to changing uses as well as attaining and <br />preserving operational efficiency. <br /> <br />E. Skinner Butte Park Background: <br /> <br />1846: Eugene Skinner arrives in the Willamette Valley and stakes 640-acre donation <br />land claim (DLC) around the Skinner Butte area. <br /> <br />1847: The Skinner family operates a trading post from one-room log cabin built near W. <br />2nd Ave., west of Lincoln Street. The cabin is the first house in Eugene. <br /> <br />mid 1800s: The Applegate Trail brings thousands of settlers through Skinner homestead site, <br />near the current alignment of Cheshire Avenue in Skinner Butte Park. <br /> <br />1880s: Dr. T.W. Shelton purchases most of Skinner Butte. <br /> <br />1886: City of Eugene grants first water franchise to Shelton and Charles Lauer and <br />Associates, group operates as Eugene Water Company (EWC) <br /> <br />1886: Dr. Shelton deed's an approximately 1/2-acre parcel of land on the upper east slope <br />of the butte to the Eugene Water Company. The EWC subsequently builds a <br />builds 300,000 gal. reservoir on the butte. <br /> <br />1887: Construction begins on the Dr. Shelton's house (today's Shelton McMurphey <br />Johnson House). The house is completed in 1888. <br /> <br />1888: Dr. Shelton sells a 180'xl00' parcel of land on the east crown of the butte to the <br />University of Oregon for the construction of an observatory. <br /> <br />1893-1936: The basalt columns on the west foot of the butte are quarried (the present-day rock <br />climbing area is created). <br /> <br />1897: U of 0 observatory no longer used. The building is subsequently destroyed in <br />1905. <br /> <br />1906: A one-million-gallon masonry reservoir is constructed on the west summit of <br />Skinner Butte to hold water for fire fighting. The reservoir is reportedly built over <br />a stone ceremonial ring of the Kalapuya Indians. <br /> <br />1908: Eugene voters approve a 40-year, $300k bond issue for purchase of water system <br />and butte as public utility, thus establishing the Eugene Water Board (EWB) <br />