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Owen was an important early American geologist, whose work in the midwest and south is of the highest importance, including the first geological surveys of Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.

Owen served as the first state geologist for three states

  • Kentucky (1854–57)
  • Arkansas (1857–59)
  • Indiana (1837–39 and 1859–60).

He began his career as an assistant mapping the geology of Tennessee in 1836, before being appointed a U.S. geologist in 1839, thereafter leading surveys of Iowa, Wisconsin, and northern Illinois (1839–40) and in the Upper Midwest (1847-1851).

Owen is best known for his 11 volume report of his state and federal geological surveys, a monumental early work on American geology, the structural geology and paleontology of the United States, and the mineral wealth of the Midwestern states. Owen also identifyied and named the major geological formations of the Mississippi River Valley and identified their relative position on a geological timeline.  

Owen was the son of Robert Owen, a Welsh-born socialist reformer who established a social experiment at New Harmony, Indiana.  Owen amassed an extensive personal collection of natural history specimens at New Harmony, as well as a geological laboratory and museum that served as the headquarters of the U.S. Geological Survey until 1856.  


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