PLSO The Oregon Surveyor Mar/Apr 2019

8 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 42, No. 2 Featured Article W hen Eugene Skinner settled in the Willamette Valley in 1846, he was warned about the flood- ing of the Willamette River. The Kalapuya natives showed him where to build his cabin on the butte known as “Ya-Po-Ah.” This cabin, as built by Skinner, was the basis for his Donation Land Claim. Over time, the butte was almost fully trans- ferred into the hands of Doctor Thomas Winthrop Shelton and his wife Adah. Eugene became a prominent city, home to the University of Oregon, and Ya-Po- Ah became Skinner Butte. The Shelton family built the “Castle on the Hill” on the South base of the Butte, but Skinner Butte is known for so much more. In No- vember of 1888, the University built an Astronomical Observatory on the Butte. In 1894, this observatory would be used by United States Geological Surveyor and Astronomer Samuel Stinson Gannet to determine precise latitude and longi- tude defining the basis for all control in Southwest Oregon and the Willamette Valley. The University’s third building, the Astro- nomical Observatory, was designed after its first—Villard Hall. In fact the same famous Portland architect designed all three—Warren Heywood Williams. The observatory was a simple 18 foot by 40 foot structure made of brick, cement and The University of Oregon’s Astronomical Observatory and Samuel Stinson Gannett continues on pg 11 T By Joseph D. Fenicle, PLS