Eugene

Sister cities

• Jinju
• Irkutsk
• Kathmandu
• Kakegawa

History

The first people to settle in the Eugene area were the Chifin band of the Kalapuyans, also written Calapooia or Calapooya. They made "seasonal rounds", moving around the countryside to collect and preserve local foods, including acorns, the bulbs of the wapato and camas plants, and berries. They stored these foods in their permanent winter village. When crop activities waned, they returned to their winter villages and took up hunting, fishing, and trading. They were known as the Chifin Kalapuyans and called the Eugene area where they lived "Chifin", sometimes recorded as "Chafin" or "Chiffin". Other Kalapuyan tribes occupied villages that are also now within Eugene city limits. Pee-you or Mohawk Calapooians, Winefelly or Pleasant Hill Calapooians, and the Lungtum or Long Tom. They were close-neighbors to the Chifin, intermarried, and were political allies. Some authorities suggest the Brownsville Kalapuyans (Calapooia Kalapuyans) were related to the Pee-you. It is likely that since the Santiam had an alliance with the Brownsville Kalapuyans that the Santiam influence also went as far at Eugene. According to archeological evidence, the ancestors of the Kalapuyans may have been in Eugene for as long as 10,000 years. In the 1800s their traditional way of life faced significant changes due to devastating epidemics and settlement, first by French fur traders and later by an overwhelming number of European settlers. Some sources also stated that their number started to decline in the nineteenth century due to diseases such as Small pox and Malaria. In July 1830, "intermittent fever" struck the lower Columbia region and a year later, the Willamette Valley. Natives traced the arrival of the disease, then new to the Pacific Northwest, to the USS Owyhee, captained by John…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Eugene is at an elevation of . To the north of downtown are Gillespie Butte and Skinner Butte. Northeast of the city are the Coburg Hills. Spencer Butte is a prominent landmark south of the city. Mount Pisgah is southeast of Eugene and includes the Mount Pisgah Arboretum and the Howard Buford Recreation Area, a Lane County Park. Eugene is surrounded by foothills and forests to the south, east, and west, while to the north the land levels out into the Willamette Valley and consists of mostly farmland. The Willamette and McKenzie Rivers run through Eugene and its neighboring city, Springfield. Another important stream is Amazon Creek, whose headwaters are near Spencer Butte. The creek discharges into the Long Tom River north Fern Ridge Reservoir, maintained for winter flood control by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Eugene Yacht Club hosts a sailing school and sailing regattas at Fern Ridge during summer months. Eugene has 23 neighborhoods: * Bethel * Amazon * Cal Young * Churchill * Downtown * Fairmount * Far West * Friendly * Goodpasture Island * Harlow * Industrial Corridor * Jefferson Westside * Laurel Hill * Northeast * River Road * Santa Clara * Southeast * South University * Southwest Hills * Trainsong * West Eugene * West University * Whiteaker The River Road and Santa Clara communities, which make up the northwestern part of the city, are neighborhoods within the urban growth boundary of Eugene. However, they are mostly outside of the city limits. Like the rest of the Willamette Valley, Eugene lies in the Marine West Coast climate zone, with Mediterranean characteristics. Under the Köppen climate classification scheme, Eugene has a warm-summer…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  37,958
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  35,116
• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  34,565
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  30,428
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  30,192
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  29,970
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  29,939
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  27,255

Most recent

• M 4.39 — 2022-10-07
  16 km ESE of Lacomb, Oregon
• M 2.61 — 2022-03-18
  16 km ESE of Lacomb, Oregon
• M 2.82 — 2021-07-23
  2 km W of Mehama, Oregon
• M 2.77 — 2017-09-26
  13 km ESE of Yachats, Oregon
• M 2.52 — 2017-07-11
  4 km ESE of Cascadia, Oregon
• M 4.14 — 2015-07-04
  16 km ENE of Springfield, Oregon