In a previous post, I traveled across the Great Salt Lake from Antelope Island to Fremont Island, running through a mucky slosh to see the cross of Kit Carson on Castle Rock.
On August 22nd, 2025 I returned to the island, biking across a now dry sandbar to search for evidence of Native Americans. The FREMONT ISLAND
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PLAN mentions that there are such artifacts and even includes a picture of a petroglyph on a rock, but it doesn’t hold any specific information on their locations. Instead it offers only this quote as an explanation for their omission, “The locations of Fremont Island cultural resources are subject as “Protected Records” pursuant to the Government Records Access and Management Act.”
Creating the Search Radius
What we do know is that the picture of the main petroglyph comes from the South East section of the island, which is still a pretty large search area. The management plan also mentions some other artifacts that came from a spot known as the “Stoddard Site.” Using that information I was able to find this journal article from 1954, that provides more detail on the Stoddard Site as well as a rough map of the location.
The same article offers a lot more information on what has been found there, saying that a total of 120 specimens have been discovered ranging from arrowheads to bowls.
The Search
After biking to the island and matching the description of the Stoddard Site with the actual geography of what I was seeing, I was successfully able to locate a few historical artifacts, including some from more recent inhabitants of the island.
The first thing I found was this Minneapolis-Moline tractor that I had somehow not seen before. It is inhabited right now by a ton of wasps, so I was unable to dig around, but I estimate that it is from the 1940s to 1950s based off of other images found online.
I also visited the Wenner gravesite as I have neglected to do that in the past as well as the remnants of the Wenner homestead.
The Petroglyphs
Eventually, I was able to find the petroglyphs and take a few photos of some of them. Other than what appears to be a guy, I am not really sure what the other things are. I have included here some images, where the lines of the petroglyphs have been digitally lightened to help them stand out.
