At the Parting-of-the-Ways, travelers on the trail separated between the Sublette or Greenwood Cutoff to the right and the main route of the Oregon, Mormon, and California Trails to the left. The Sublette Cutoff, opened in 1844, saved 46 miles over the main route but required a 50 mile waterless crossing of the desert, so it was not popular until the gold rush period. After traveling a thousand miles together, emigrants parted here without knowing whether they would ever see each other again, making it a place of great sorrow and of difficult decision between saving miles by crossing the desert or favoring their livestock. About two-thirds of the emigrants chose the main route through Fort Bridger instead of the Sublette Cutoff.