Jean Bucknum’s experience as a small town newspaper correspondent for a daily regional newspaper inspired her to create the imaginary Eastern Oregon town of Ammonite. The Bend Bulletin published her feature stories, news articles and photos. These showcased the small town and the large cowboy county in which she lived.

She graduated from the University of Oregon with 25 geology credits and a journalism degree. She was an official ‘rock reconnaissance’ volunteer for the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service in Central Oregon, and her rockhunting activities were featured in an Oregon Field Guide TV segment. Her article “A Rockhound’s Paradise” was printed in a Cascades East magazine. It features a WWII veteran who shared tales about rockhunting and mining for mercury and gold in Wheeler and Crook Counties, Oregon.