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i - Valley Company, creating in its place the ~ re Eugene Water Board (EWB). EWB, precursor of today's Eugene Water and _ ~ 1, ~ , Electric Board (EWEB), promised better r • ~ ~ _ service and a cleaner system. ~ . ~ lY' - « ' * - Along with the purchase of the municpal ti~ ' ~ - . water system infrastructure, including both i reservoirs, EWB also became the new owner of the surrounding land. Skinner Skinner Butte Park Butte was now public property. EWB, was dedicated on however, had no use for the entire property, July 6, 1914 This early print shows an artist's conception of and in 1914 recommended the dedication Eugene growing up around Skinner Butte Park of about 67 acres as a public park. The voters embraced the proposal and - municipal water system that inevitably approved a $93,000 bond levy to take over failed, Another larger, one million gallon the non-operating land. To dedicate the reservoir was constructed on the butte the Park, the city celebrated in a grand festival following year on the western summit of the of fireworks and dancing. Thus, Skinner butte, This reservoir, a monolith of concrete Butte Park was created. i, requiring train loads of materials to The Heyday construct walls eight feet thick at the base, would endure well into the latter half of the In the following years, Skinner Butte Park ~ century, experienced tremendous attention and _ popularity. This was a period of The Transition to Public improvement and expansion, when the Ownership park enjoyed a particular distinction as the hub of local recreation and cultural It took an epidemic to tip the scales of activities, from car camping to festivals to public opinion. In 1906, contaminated the local swimming hole. water in the municipal water system caused an outbreak of typhoid fever in Eugene. Several generations after the fires of the The State Board of Health reportedly Kalapuya stopped, brush and poison oak described it as "the worst typhoidepldemic had begun to grow densely across the ~ in the history of Oregon," The people rallied flanks of the butte. This did not appeal to ~ ~ - around abid for public ownership of the the aesthetics of the time, and crews were water system, and in 1908, Eugene voters mustered by the newly formed Park Board ' passed a bond to buy out the Willamette ~ F The car camp, shown here _ ~ across Cheshire Avenue former) a section of the ( Y I le ate Trail en'o ed , APP g 1 Y w. + ; „ s,~ great popularity in 1920's. ~ ~ ~ Note the comfort station now ~ ;~4r~r r, known as Lamb Cottage in ~ . s the background ~ ' ~ K:'r ~ f I t_ . e i 30 Chapter 2: Natural History and Cultural Context -