William Octavius Owen was born in Pleasant Grove. Utah, August 22, 1859; educated in the common schools. studied surveying, qualifying as a civil engineer about 1878; took a course in mathematics at the Wyoming State University at Laramie in 1890: county surveyor of Albany County twelve years; city engineer of Laramie three years; United States Examiner of Surveys in the Interior Department fifteen years; surveyor of a number of military reservations after they had been abandoned, these included Forts Sanders, Laramie, Fetterman, Steele, the Deer Creek Hay Reservation, and the Box Elder Reservation; became a member of the National Geographic Society in 1893; affiliated with the Republican Party; elected State Auditor in 1894, serving from January 7, 1895 until January 2, 1899: in 1898 was at the head of a party who climbed the Teton Mountains, he and some of the members of the group reached the summit of the most rugged peak; the United States Geographic Board on October 5. 1927 named the second highest peak in the Teton Range "Mount Owen" in recognition of this achievement; by direction of the Twentieth State Legislature, 1929, a bronze tablet, to commemorate this ascent of the Grand Teton on August 11, 1898, was affixed to the enduring rocks of the summit in connection with the dedication of the Grand Teton National Park, July 29, 1929; Owen died in 1947.

Additional Sources

•  William O. Owen papers, Acc.#0094, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming