Luella Agnes Owen (1852–1932)

Luella Agnes Owen was a female pioneer in the fields of speleology, geography, and geology. She viewed these three disciplines not as separate sciences, but as three branches of a scientific trinity—and she devoted much of her life to this trinity. Owen had to overcome many obstacles and defy some of the conventions of her time, but she became one of the world’s leading authorities on caves. She is believed to have explored more caves than any other woman, and more than most men, of her time. 

Owen was born in 1852 in the frontier town of St. Joseph, Missouri. Her father, James Alfred Owen, was a prominent lawyer, and her mother was Agnes Cargill Owen. James and Agnes Owen had seven children—four daughters and three sons (two of whom died in infancy). Three of their daughters achieved scholarly distinction—Mary Alicia as a historian, folklorist, and ethnologist, Juliette Amelia for her artistic and academic work in ornithology and botany, and Luella Agnes in speleology and geology. 

Even as a young child, Luella Agnes Owen loved science, especially the study of rocks, fossils, and shells. At that time, however, young girls seldom studied science. They generally concentrated on homemaking skills in preparation for marriage. If they did have a career, it was often as a schoolteacher. Defying the norms, Owen chose a career as a scientist. 

The lack of female geologists or speleologists in her era did not deter Owen. Privately educated and largely self-taught, she studied all the geological literature and surveys she could find. She also followed the advice and recommendations of male geology mentors.

Many of the caverns Owen wanted to explore were in remote locations, and she employed various means to reach her destinations, including trains, coaches, wagons, and walking. Cave exploration could be extremely difficult and dangerous—and just to gain entrance to caves, she often encountered crude steps, precarious ladders, slippery slopes, and steep descents via ropes and buckets.

In addition, the caves Owen wanted to explore were frequently on private land, so she had to write to their male owners and ask permission to be on their property. Some owners were happy to show her their caves, but others feared for her welfare and refused. They made up excuses to prevent her from conducting her research, but Owen often won them over with her energy and determination.

Using candles and the white light of burning magnesium ribbon, Owen spent several years studying caves in southern Missouri and in the Black Hills of South Dakota. She kept precise notes on her observations and discoveries. From these caving explorations, she wrote several scientific papers and, in 1898, a book, Cave Regions of the Ozarks and Black Hills. In her book, she interlaced scientific theories of the day with general comments about her observations while traveling and exploring caves. For more than fifty years, Cave Regions of the Ozarks and Black Hills remained the only reference on Missouri’s caves, and it allowed information on American caves to be shared with the rest of the world. Owen also promoted conservation efforts to preserve caves. She viewed these natural wonders as valuable resources and felt they required protection. 

Beyond caving, Owen wrote several papers concerning the Missouri River. She also studied the yellow soil of the Missouri River bluffs known as loess. The St. Joseph area was “a natural laboratory” for this research, and Luella had been interested in this soil since childhood when road crews graded streets near her home and the exposed soil looked as if it had been cut with a large knife. Formed mostly from deposits of wind-borne sediment, loess is prone to vertical fracture that results in bluffs. This unique soil of her hometown’s hills is also found along the Rhine River in Germany and the Yellow River in China, making her studies of international interest. 

Never marrying, Owen remained devoted to her career. For more than thirty years, through her book, articles, and papers on caves, the Missouri River, and loess soil, she achieved international recognition. She became a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geographical Society. She was also listed in the American Men of Science. 

St. Joseph’s famous lady caver died of pneumonia in 1932. Owen’s obituary in the St. Joseph News-Press described her as “St. Joseph’s most noted scientist” and indicated that she was “the only woman geologist recognized by the Chinese government” and “the only woman member of the Societe de Speleologie, the French Society of Caves.”