Denis Julien Inscription, Archaeological site in Hell Roaring Canyon, Grand County, United States
The Denis Julien Inscription is an incised carving on a rock face at the top of a talus slope in Hell Roaring Canyon, about 750 feet east of the Green River. The panel reads "D. Julien 1836 3 mai," with a boat with a mast to the right and a bird-like object below. Later travelers left markings nearby.
A French-American trapper carved this rock inscription on May 3, 1836, into the rock face. The marking belongs to a series of roughly eight known works this artist left between 1831 and 1844, documenting early travels through the region.
The panel gives the trapper's name as "D. Julien" above the date 1836 and the words "3 mai", French for 3 May. A boat with a mast is cut to the right of the lettering, with a bird-like object below it. Later travellers added their own marks on the same rock face.
The panel sits on a rock face at the top of a talus slope in Hell Roaring Canyon, about 750 feet (230 m) east of the Green River, north of Canyonlands National Park. There is no marked trail or parking area; the canyon is reached from the Green River corridor, and the final approach crosses loose talus. Carry water and allow time for route-finding.
Nearby on the same rock face, Bureau of Reclamation employees carved inscriptions in 1914 while surveying a damsite, and later travelers left their own marks. These additions place the 1836 panel alongside records of twentieth-century river engineering.
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