Jean McConkie McKenzie is a woman of about our age, who has lived all her life on the McConkie Ranch in Dry Fork Canyon near Vernal Utah. The Ranch, besides being the family home and livelihood, also just happens to contain hundreds of panels of Fremont Culture rock art. It is listed on the Utah Historical Register. The drawings are on a sandstone “Navajo Formation” cliff. There are petroglyphs (chiseled) and pictographs (painted) figures. Some are a combination.
Jean and her mother, Sadie McConkie, have always done everything they could to honor and preserve the drawings, while still making them available to the public. They ask only that visitors respect their property and do no damage to the panels. There is no admission charge and only a small old-fashioned refrigerator with pop and water available on the honor system. The family has made trails up to the panels and placed a few explanatory and directional signs.
The trails take you up very close to the drawings and some of the figures are very large. One drawing, called the three kings, is nine feet tall, but we could not get a very good picture of that one. We loved this one, which must be a family portrait. 
The paths are not especially difficult to navigate, except that the day we were there it was a very warm summer day. It was nice to cool down by sitting in this overhang (where, we decided, the people who carved these drawings certainly rested centuries ago).
The Fremont Culture flourished in this area from 1 to 1200 AD. They were farmers, but apparently not so domesticated that they lost their fighting abilities, because some of the panels show them carrying weapons.
When we returned from our hike, we were fortunate to run into Mrs. McKenzie, who was replenishing the refrigerator after a trip to town. She told us that her family has not tried to translate the art but that they’ve had fun speculating. She said ten people can arrive at ten different explanations and definitions as to the true meanings.
We told her that we hoped our pictures would turn out and thanked her for allowing us to roam about her property. She said that she had made a little book of photos and drawings and had a few copies. We purchased the small paperback for four bucks. It’s a lovely little pamphlet and we were happy to have it.
I did a google search today because I wanted to check that the ranch was still open to the public and to see how the family was doing. The first thing that came up was a rare-book website which has Jean’s booklet for sale at $45.00.
We always pick up reams of tourist literature and pass it on or toss it when we move on from an area. I’m glad this one didn’t get put into the toss-out stack.
From what we could learn, apparently the ranch is still open the same as it was, but we were unable to find out anything more about the family.
If anyone has heard anything new about the drawings or the McConkie-McKenzie family, please leave a comment or e-mail us.
The number by this successful hunter was put on by one of the Universities about 50 years ago. Of course, now they know better. An archeology class from the University of Utah was coming to the ranch later that day. Jean is happy for all the work that students have done over the years to learn more about this legacy.
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