SKETCH OF DAVID DALE OWEN. 261 



During the next tliree years they kept up and increased their 

 knowledge of chemistry by repeating the experiments of Dr. Ure's 

 course. Desiring to extend his knowledge of chemistry and geol- 

 ogy, David Dale Owen in 1831 returned to Great Britain. He 

 had as a companion Henry D. Rogers, and they both lived at the 

 house of Owen's father in London while attending the lectures of 

 Dr. Turner at the London University. 



After about a year abroad Owen came back to the United 

 States. Soon after his return he was stricken with Asiatic chol- 

 era, which was epidemic in this country in the summer and fall of 

 1832, but was fortunate enough to survive the attack. Wishing 

 to increase his knowledge of anatomy and physiology as an aid in 

 the study of paleontology, he entered the Ohio Medical College, 

 in Cincinnati, and was graduated in the spring of 1836. He de- 

 voted the summer following his graduation to gaining practical 

 experience in field geology. To this end he accompanied at his 

 own expense Dr. Gerard Troost, who was then engaged on the 

 State Survey of Tennessee. 



Dr. Owen married, March 23, 1837, Caroline C. Neef, the third 

 daughter of that pioneer of Pestalozzian education in America, 

 Joseph Neef. 



Dr. Owen had been appointed State Geologist of Indiana and 

 immediately after his marriage he entered upon the duties of this 

 position. He made a preliminary reconnoissance in 1837 and 1838, 

 his report upon which was published immediately after its com- 

 pletion and reissued in 1859. Geological science being little un- 

 derstood in the West when this document first appeared, a brief 

 introductory exposition of the leading formations was given in it, 

 after which the rich deposits of coal, iron, and building stones 

 within the limits of the State were described. 



The Hon. James Whitcomb, then Governor of Indiana, was 

 soon afterward appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office, 

 and Congress having ordered a survey of the Dubuque and Mineral 

 Point districts under the direction of his bureau, he selected Dr. 

 Owen, with whose ability he was well acquainted, to conduct this 

 examination. These districts comprised eleven thousand square 

 miles of the Northwest Territory, now included in the States of 

 Wisconsin and Iowa, and the object of the examination was to 

 enable the commissioner to reserve from sale those sections found 

 to contain mineral wealth. But a short time was allowed for the 

 work, hence it became necessary to organize a large force. The 

 difficulties involved in such a rapid prosecution of the survey are 

 indicated in the report presented by Dr. Owen to the commis- 

 sioner, April 2, 1840. " In one month from the day I received my 

 commission and instructions," he says, "(to wit, on September 

 17th), I had reached the mouth of Rock River ; engaged one hun- 



