PLSO The Oregon Surveyor Mar/Apr 2019

Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org 11 stone. The roof had two openings with a rope and pulley system that opened up access to the night sky. Long before the observatory was built the University started collecting equipment. Autho- rized on June 20, 1878 the Secretary of the Board of Regents travelled to Phil- adelphia to purchase a solar compass, an astronomical clock, a telescope and other supplies totaling $4000. The in- struments were delivered by train soon thereafter and placed in storage for the next ten years. The board at the Univer- sity could not agree on a location for the new observatory and their prime loca- tion, Skinner Butte, was not an option. At a meeting on August 30, 1888 it was reported that the negotiations with Doc- tor Shelton to place the observatory on Skinner Butte have failed. The minutes of that date state “…we made an effort to purchase the land of him but could not get him to consent to sell at any price.” On the dreadful night of November 26, 1887, the “Castle on the Hill” caught fire. A train blocked the road crossings, there- fore no firefighting equipment could reach the site and the entire house burnt to the basalt foundation. Reluctantly Doc- tor Shelton decided to rebuild but it was soon realized money was running short. With the construction coming to an end and the University waving money in his face he signed the deed over to The Re- gents of the University on September 28, 1888. The house was completed soon thereafter in October. The deed, as re- corded in Volume T, Page 508 & 509 of the Lane County Records, recites all the details of the 180 foot by 100 foot parcel for the site of the new observatory. The deed also includes a “free and perpetual right of way for egress and ingress from and to said tract to be suitable for foot passengers and vehickles (sic), beasts of burden and other animals. Said way to course by the most practicable route with a public street of said Eugene City in a manner to do the least injury to said Grantors.” This way became the wind- ing street up to the top of Skinner Butte that still exists today, a large part of it constructed by Doctor Shelton in 1892. The construction of the observatory was given to the low bidder, W. H. Abrams, for a lump sum of $3,275. This was the same contractor who built Villard Hall and Doctor Shelton’s Castle on the Hill. Other expenses came up and the total cost for construction was $4,591.17 in- cluding the purchase price of the land. The new observatory was the highlight of the University and the Mathematics Department. Classes in Astronomy and Celestial Mechanics were some of the most popular, but it didn’t take long to realize an observatory so far from cam- pus and in a foggy valley didn’t add up to the original vision. The observatory fell in disrepair and the telescope that was sent to Philadelphia in 1893 for re- pair and modifications was stolen on the night of June 1, 1897. The telescope was recovered unharmed but never placed back in the observatory. Year after year the once glorious building continued to continued from pg 8 T continues T Featured Article