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I ~ G~-I (~p7"E2 2: ~(~ZZ121~L ~ i5T~724' i (~I\1D ~ULZ"U~L G~71~lT"EX7" Introduction formations commonly known as "columnar To better understand the role of Skinner basalt". The columnar basalt at the core Butte Park in both past.and present human of Skinner Butte was quarried towards the ~ culture, it is helpful to get a sense of the end of the 19'h century and used throughout formative processes that .created the the region for everything from building ~ landscape we see today. A short foundations to grave markers. The old bibilography is included at the end of the quarry is now a popular public rock Master Plan for further reading. climbing area. ~ ~I G@QgY1phy Aside from Skinner Butte, the Willamette ' j Eugene lies atthe southern terminus ofthe River is certainly the most dominant Willamette Valley, where the Coast Range geographic feature in the park. One of the and the Cascade Range merge in a series largest rivers in the Pacific Northwest, the of forested foothills. These hills surround W~Ilamette flows through Eugene in a the Eugene area to the south, east and roughly west by northwesterly direction. west, and include landmarks such as The geomorphology of the river is ~ Spencer Butte, College Hill, and the characterized in the Willamette Valley by ridgeline. Much of the land in and around dramaticfloods, which have historically led Eugene is generally characterized by flat, to continual shifting and change in the river j ,alluvial plains punctuated by volcanic hills channel and banks. It was common for ' the river to shift its course dramaticall ~ I rising no more than a few hundred feet carving new channels and abandoning o d above the valley floor. I ones. Skinner Butte is one such volcanic hill, which lies in an approximate north-south ' Workers in the Skinner Butte quarry c. 1908 line formed by two other basalt-core hills: ~ ; Spencer Butte to the south and Gillespie ~ ~ ~ ~ Butte to the north. The summit of Skinner ' i y ~ " f Butte lies approximately 682 feet above sea { ~ ' ` ~ # _ level (see Map 3: Topography). The summit r ~ ~ is elongated, running in a roughly east-west ~ " ! ' direction, and includes a small, perhaps artificially enhanced, bench to the east of q~" 'r i` the summit and. about fifty feet lower. Skinner Butte and some other nearby hills a ` ' were formed when magma pushed upward y~ ~ . g- through the earth's crust and cooled very ~ i slowly, creating the regular, polygonal stone _ - Skinner Butte Park • Master Plan 2001 19