From 1843 until the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, the Oregon/California Trail was one of the main routes of travel across the wild west. Eighteen miles west of South Pass, the emigrants came to the first of many decision points on the road to California. Parting of the Ways offered the choice between a safe, established trail following water and relatively level ground, or a substantial shortcut through dry, barren and mountainous country. Many chose the shortcut. Mountain man Caleb Greenwood pioneered the shortcut, but it was known as Sublette's Cutoff by most pioneers. It offered a direct route west to the Bear River eliminating the southern dog-leg to Fort Bridger followed by the older, established emigrant road. On both routes, the emigrants soon confronted the Green River, a north-south barrier to the east-west route of the Oregon-Mormon-California Trail. Every emigrant had to cross it in some manner. Over the years, a variety of fords and ferry sites were established along a 30-mile stretch of the River from the mouth of the Big Sandy to Names Hill (La Barge). Looking at the names carved into the mudstone of the Green River Formation by these long-dead pioneers was a moving experience. (Thanks to the OCTA for saving me the trouble of writing some of the foregoing)

Here's a panorama of the site.

Here's a couple of the inscriprions

Jim Bridger waas one of the original mountain men who found South Pass in the 1820s.