16 min
Overview
In 1846, Eugene Skinner arrived in Oregon and staked a claim on the south bank of the Willamette River that included a forested basalt prominence. His wife and daughter arrived via the Applegate Trail the next year. Skinner built a log cabin and operated a trading post and ferry. In 1848, Skinner and Judge Risdon platted a new town, standing at the top of the basalt prominence to mark the north-south meridian from it to Spencer Butte. Skinner’s wife Mary called the new settlement ‘Eugene City,’ and the name has stuck. The basalt prominence became Skinner’s Butte, now Skinner Butte, but still known to many locals by the former name. Most of the area is now a city park where you can stand in the same place as Skinner and Risdon looking over downtown Eugene, see a replica of the Skinner Cabin, gawk at a Gothic mansion, stroll the south shore of the Willamette River, and visit a charming rose garden. There is a maze of trails on the north side of Skinner Butte. These directions will take you over the top from downtown Eugene to the Willamette River. Walk up Pearl Street, and go left on 3rd Avenue above the 18 story Ya-Po-Ah Terrace Retirement Apartments. Ya-Po-Ah’s construction in 1968 raised a public protest that resulted in laws restricting the height of buildings within the city. Thus, the apartment complex remains the tallest building in Eugene 50 years later! There’s a resident’s garden just to the west of the property, and visitors to the area should keep an eye open for the flock of wild turkeys that sometimes pop out of the Skinner Butte woods and forage on the lawns. Ya-Po-Ah was the Kalapuyan name for Skinner Butte and means “very high place.” Stay left to arrive at the Shelton McMurphey Johnson House, a Gothic mansion visible from downtown Eugene also known as the “Castle on the Hill.” The house is part of Skinner Butte Park and is open to the public for an admission fee six days a week. The residence is named after the three familes that owned it since its construction in 1888. Walk around the house,
Trail Stats
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Photos
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