Parting of the Ways (Wyoming)

For the Doctor Who episode, see The Parting of the Ways.
Parting of the Ways
Location in Wyoming
Nearest city Farson, Wyoming
Coordinates 42°15′27″N 109°13′42″W / 42.25750°N 109.22833°W / 42.25750; -109.22833Coordinates: 42°15′27″N 109°13′42″W / 42.25750°N 109.22833°W / 42.25750; -109.22833
Built 1844
NRHP Reference # 76001962
Added to NRHP January 11, 1976[1]

The Parting of the Ways is an historic site in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States, where the Oregon and California Trails fork from the original route to Fort Bridger to an alternative route, the Sublette-Greenwood Cutoff, across the Little Colorado Desert. Many wagon trains parted company, some preferring the shorter cutoff route, which involved fifty waterless miles, to the longer but better-watered main route.[2]

The junction is marked by a small sandstone boulder about 15 inches (38 cm) high, placed by L.C. Bishop and Paul Henderson and inscribed with a left-pointing arrow with "F. Bridger" and aright-pointing arrow with "S. Cut Off." The route was not established by Sublette, but rather a mountain man named Greenwood. The error in attribution arose when Joseph E. Ware's Emigrant's Guide to California (1849) listed the alternate path as the "Sublette Cutoff."[3]

References

  1. ↑ National Park Service (2008-04-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ "Parting of the Ways". National Register of Historic Places. Wyoming State Preservation Office. 2008-10-24.
  3. ↑ Benton, J. Homer (July 19, 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form: Parting-of-the-Ways (Oregon Trail Site)" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-06-22.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.