Denis Julien Inscription (Grand County, Utah)


The Denis Julien Inscription is an incised carving on a rock face in a side canyon of the Green River north of Canyonlands National Park in southwestern Grand County, Utah, United States. The site is about to the east of the Green River in Hell Roaring Canyon, at the top of a talus slope. The inscription was left by trapper Denis Julien in 1836, when he was one of the few Europeans in southern Utah. The panel reads:
D. Julien
1836
3 mai

A boat with a mast is depicted to the right of the lettering, with a bird-like object below. Later travelers have left their own markings nearby. The Julien is one of at least eight that he left in Utah between 1831 and 1844. The inscription is significant in depicting an apparent sailboat, supporting the theory that he sailed upstream against the current as the date progression of his inscriptions would imply. Nearby inscriptions left by Bureau of Reclamation employees in 1914 on a damsite survey expedition are also considered significant.