Genesis of a City
Posted by: 
TheBeanTeam
N 44° 03.643 W 123° 05.847
10T E 492195 N 4878621
Quotes from early pioneers about Eugene Oregon in its beginning.
N 44° 03.643 W 123° 05.847
Waymark Code: WM9DP
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 03/24/2006
Views: 15
Eugene and Mary Skinner emigrated in 1845 to California, and then moved north to settle temporarily in Polk County. The Skinners selected a Donation Land Claim here at the head of the Willamette Valle on 1846 and Eugene, together with hired hands, built a small, one-room cabin. The Skinners moved into their “new home in the far off west” in May 1847, and “for 4 months less 3 days,” Eugene recalled, “Mary never saw the face of a White woman or child excep[t] our own….”
Like many pioneers, the Skinners were industrious. They hired men to till the prairie and plant wheat, established an orchard, and in April 1851, Eugene Skinner began platting a town. From modest beginnings at Skinner’s Butte, the city of Eugene emerged as the largest town in the upper Willamette Valley.
I commenced laying off a Town on this portion of the Claim running from the river back to my South line and in the month of April, Pearl Smith in consideration of two lots donated him did put up a small building near the ferry landing, which is now owned and occupied as a Store by a Mr. Huddleston. I did not consider laying off the whole of the eastern part of the claim as I wished for the reason that I could not get sufficient help….
Eugene Skinner
Letter to the Surveyor General of Oregon. (1851)
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