South Pass/Parting of the Ways Many people used South Pass, a relatively easy crossing of the continental divide, in what is now central Wyoming... Indigenous peoples, trappers, mountain men, riders of the Pony Express, as well as the colonial settlers of the California, Oregon, and Mormon Trails all used the pass. US Steel even built a railroad over the pass in the 1960s to extract ore from a mine at Atlantic City. This image comes from a few miles west of the Pass itself, a spot known as "Parting of the Ways". This is where some people traveling the Oregon and California Trails could opt for a short-cut known as Greenwood's or Sublette's Cutoff.
One image by Richard Koenig; taken September 23rd 2025.

















