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| Parting of the Ways |
In July 1844, the California bound Stevens-Townsend-Murphy wagon train, guided by Isaac Hitchcock and 81-year-old Caleb Greenwood, passed this point and continued nine and one half miles west-southwest from here to a place destined to become prominent in Oregon Trail history -- the starting point of the Sublette Cutoff.
There, instead of following the regular Oregon Trail route southwest to Fort Bridger, then northwest to reach the Bear River below present day Cokeville, Wyoming, this wagon train pioneered a new route. Either Hitchcock or Greenwood, it is uncertain which, made the decision to lead the wagons due west, in effect along one side of a triangle.
The route was hazardous, entailing crossing some 50 miles of semi-arid desert in the heat of summer and surmounting mountain ridges, but it saved approximately 48 miles from the Fort Bridger route and 5 or 6 days travel. The route was first known as the Greenwood Cutoff.
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| Sublette Cutoff marked at the Parting of the Ways |
It was the Gold Rush year of 1849 that brought this "Parting of the Ways" into prominence. Of the estimated 30,000 Forty-niners, probably 20,000 traveled the Greenwood Cutoff which, due to an error in the 1849 Joseph E. Ware guide book, became known as the Sublette Cutoff.
In the ensuing years, further refinements of the trail route were made. In 1852 the Kinney and Slate Creek Cutoffs diverted trains from portions of the Sublette Cutoff, but until the covered wagon period ended, the Sublette Cutoff remained a popular direct route, and this "Parting of the Ways" was the place for a crucial decision.
A quartzite post inscribed « Fort Bridger S. Cutoff » and a Bureau of Land Management information panel now mark the historic "Parting of the Ways" site.
Comments
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| False Parting of the Ways monument |
Perhaps among the first facts a serious student of the overland trails learns is that the Parting of the Ways monument located at the Wyoming 28 parking area west of South Pass is incorrect. The actual Parting of the Ways was not at that site, despite what the monument indicates. However, even though it is incorrect, the marker has now become an accepted part of trail lore and is simply referred to as the "False Parting of the Ways" monument. OCTA's marker is intended to correct the error on the monument and direct the traveler to the actual site.
Location
About 15 miles east of Farson, Sweetwater County, Wyoming. NW1/4SW1/4. Sec. 25, T27N, R103W.
Ownership
State of Wyoming
Access
Open to the public
Directions
Parking area on the north side of Wyoming 28, 24 miles northeast of Farson. (Site of the marker, NOT the site of true Parting of the Ways.)
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