Portage
Encyclopedia
Portage or portaging refers to the practice of carrying watercraft or cargo over land to avoid river obstacles, or between two bodies of water. A place where this carrying occurs is also called a portage; a person doing the carrying is called a porter
.
The English word portage is derived from the French
noun "portage" and verb "porter" : to carry. Early French explorers ventured in New France
and French Louisiana
encountered many rapid
s and cascades. The Amerindians carried their canoes over land to avoid river obstacles. The French coureurs des bois, voyageurs
, and trappers used the French word "portage".
Over time, important portages were sometimes upgraded to canal
s with locks, and even portage railway
s. Primitive portaging generally involves carrying the vessel and its contents across the portage in multiple trips. Small canoes can be portaged by carrying them inverted over one's shoulders and the center strut
may be designed in the style of a yoke
to facilitate this. Historically, voyageurs often employed a tump line on their head to carry a load on their back.
Portages can be many kilometers in length (as with the 19 km Methye Portage
and the 8.5-mile (13.7 km) Grand Portage
, both in North America) and often cover hilly or difficult terrain. Some portages involve very little elevation change, such as the very short Mavis Grind
in Shetland, which crosses an isthmus
.
.
Trails around portages usually began as animal tracks and were improved by tramping or blazing. In a few places iron-plated wooden rails were laid to take a handcart. Heavily used routes sometimes evolved into roads when sledges, rollers or oxen were used, as at Methye Portage
. Sometimes railways were built (Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad
). The basic purpose of most canals is to avoid portages.
When going downstream through rapids an experienced voyageur called the guide would inspect the rapids and choose between the heavy work of a portage and the life-threatening task of running the rapids. If the second course were chosen, the boat would be controlled by the avant standing in front with a long paddle and the gouvernail standing in the back with a nine-foot steering paddle. The avant had a better view and was in charge but the gouvernail had more control over the boat. The other canoemen provided power under the instructions of the avant.
Going upstream was more difficult since there were many places where the current was too swift to paddle. Where the river bottom was shallow and firm, voyageurs would stand in the canoe and push it upstream with 10-foot poles. If the shoreline was reasonably clear the canoe could be 'tracked' or 'lined', that is, the canoemen would pull the canoe on a rope while one man stayed onboard to keep it away from the shore. (The most extreme case of tracking was in the Three Gorges in China where all boats had to be pulled upstream against the current of the Yangtze River
.) In worse conditions, the 'demi-chargé' technique was used. Half the cargo was unloaded, the canoe forced upstream, unloaded and then returned downstream to pick up the remaining half of the cargo. In still worse currents, the entire cargo was unloaded ('décharge') and carried overland while the canoe was forced upstream . In the worst case a full portage was necessary. The canoe was carried overland by two or four men (the heavier York boats had to be drug overland on rollers) The cargo which was divided into standard 90-pound packs or pièces with each man responsible for about 6. One pack would be carried by a tumpline
and one on the back (strangulated hernia was a common cause of death). In order to evenly distribute loaded and unloaded periods the voyageur would drop his pack at a pose about every half mile and go back for the next load. The time for a portage was estimated at one hour per half mile.
was a paved trackway in Ancient Greece
which enabled boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth
from the Gulf of Corinth
to the Saronic Gulf
. The 6 km (3.7 mi) to 8.5 km (5.3 mi) long roadway was a rudimentary form of railway, and operated from ca. 600 BC until the middle of the 1st century AD. The scale on which the Diolkos combined the two principles of the railway and the overland transport of ships remained unique in antiquity
.
There is scant literary evidence for two more ship trackways by that name in antiquity, both located in Roman Egypt: The physician Oribasius
(c. 320–400 AD) records two passages from his 1st century AD colleague Xenocrates
, in which the latter casually refers to a diolkos close to the harbor of Alexandria
which may have been located at the southern tip of the island of Pharos. Another diolkos is mentioned by Ptolemy
(90–168 AD) in his book on geography (IV, 5, 10) as connecting a false mouth of a partly silted up Nile
branch with the Mediterranean Sea
.
In the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries, the Viking
merchants-adventurers exploited a network of waterways in Eastern Europe
, with portages connecting the four most important rivers of the region: Volga, Western Dvina, Dnieper, and Don
. The portages of present-day Russia
were vital for the Varangian commerce with the Orient
and Byzantium
.
At the most important portages (such as Gnezdovo
) there were trade outposts inhabited by a mixture of Norse merchants and native population. The Khazars
built the fortress of Sarkel
to guard a key portage between the Volga and the Don. After the Varangian and Khazar power in Eastern Europe waned, Slavic merchants continued to use the portages along the Volga trade route
and the Dnieper trade route. The names of the towns Volokolamsk
and Vyshny Volochek may be translated as "the portage on the Lama River
" and "the upper portage", respectively (the word "volok" means "portage" in Russian, derived from the verb "to drag").
was chosen as the capital of Mali
because it is located on the Niger River
near the rapids that divide the Upper and Middle Niger Valleys.
; Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
; New Orleans, Louisiana
; and Chicago, Illinois). The importance of free passage through portages found them included in laws and treaties. The Northwest Ordinance
says "The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said territory as to the citizens of the United States..." The Treaty of Greenville
between the U.S. and the Indian tribes of the area includes: "And the said Indian tribes will allow to the people of the United States a free passage by land and by water, as one and the other shall be found convenient, through their country,..." Then four portages are mentioned specifically. Portages are also used in the treaty to set boundaries ("The general boundary line between the lands of the United States and the lands of the said Indian tribes, shall begin at the mouth of Cayahoga river, and run thence up the same to the portage..."). One historically-important fur trade
portage is now Grand Portage National Monument
. Recreational canoeing routes often include portages between lakes, for example, the Seven Carries
route in Adirondack Park. Algonquin Park, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
and Sylvania Wilderness
have famous portage routes.
Numerous portages were upgraded to carriageways and railways due to their economic importance. The Niagara Portage had a gravity railway in the 1760s. The passage between the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers (and so between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River systems) was through a short swamp portage which seasonally flooded and it is thought that a channel gradually developed unintentionally from the dragging of the boat bottoms. The 1835 Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad
connected the cities of New York and Montreal without needing to go through the Atlantic. The passage between Lake Superior and Lake Huron was by a portage dragway of greased rails with capstans until a railway was built in 1850 and a canal in 1855. The 5-mile-long Nosbonsing and Nipissing Railway
was built just to carry logs between lakes on their way to the sawmill. Allegheny Portage Railroad
and Morris Canal
both used canal inclined plane
s to pass loaded boats through portages.
Sometimes the settlements were named for being on a portage. Some places so named are:
across from the Tasman Sea
to the Pacific Ocean
or vice versa. The most famous ones are located in Auckland
, where there remain two 'Portage Road's in separate parts of the city.
Porter (carrier)
A porter, also called a bearer, is a person who shifts objects for others.-Historical meaning:Human adaptability and flexibility early led to the use of humans for shifting gear...
.
The English word portage is derived from the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
noun "portage" and verb "porter" : to carry. Early French explorers ventured in New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
and French Louisiana
Louisiana (New France)
Louisiana or French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France. Under French control from 1682–1763 and 1800–03, the area was named in honor of Louis XIV, by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle...
encountered many rapid
Rapid
A rapid is a section of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. A rapid is a hydrological feature between a run and a cascade. A rapid is characterised by the river becoming shallower and having some rocks exposed above the...
s and cascades. The Amerindians carried their canoes over land to avoid river obstacles. The French coureurs des bois, voyageurs
Voyageurs
The Voyageurs were the persons who engaged in the transportation of furs by canoe during the fur trade era. Voyageur is a French word which literally translates to "traveler"...
, and trappers used the French word "portage".
Over time, important portages were sometimes upgraded to canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
s with locks, and even portage railway
Portage railway
A portage railway is a short and possibly isolated section of railway used to bypass a section of unnavigable river or between two water bodies which are not directly connected...
s. Primitive portaging generally involves carrying the vessel and its contents across the portage in multiple trips. Small canoes can be portaged by carrying them inverted over one's shoulders and the center strut
Thwart
A thwart is a strut placed crosswise in a ship or boat, to brace it crosswise.In rowboats it can also serve as a seat for a rower....
may be designed in the style of a yoke
Yoke
A yoke is a wooden beam, normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, used in different cultures, and for different types of oxen...
to facilitate this. Historically, voyageurs often employed a tump line on their head to carry a load on their back.
Portages can be many kilometers in length (as with the 19 km Methye Portage
Methye Portage
The Methye Portage or Portage La Loche in northwestern Saskatchewan was one of the most important portages in the old fur-trade route across Canada. It connected the Mackenzie River basin to rivers that ran east to the Atlantic. It was reached by Peter Pond in 1778 and abandoned in 1883 when...
and the 8.5-mile (13.7 km) Grand Portage
Grand Portage National Monument
Grand Portage National Monument is a United States National Monument located on the north shore of Lake Superior in northeastern Minnesota that preserves a vital center of fur trade activity and Anishinaabeg Ojibwe heritage....
, both in North America) and often cover hilly or difficult terrain. Some portages involve very little elevation change, such as the very short Mavis Grind
Mavis Grind
Mavis Grind is a narrow isthmus joining the Northmavine peninsula to the rest of the island of Shetland Mainland in the Shetland Islands, UK. It is just wide at its narrowest point...
in Shetland, which crosses an isthmus
Isthmus
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas usually with waterforms on either side.Canals are often built through isthmuses where they may be particularly advantageous to create a shortcut for marine transportation...
.
Technique
This section deals mostly with the heavy freight canoes used by the Canadian VoyageursVoyageurs
The Voyageurs were the persons who engaged in the transportation of furs by canoe during the fur trade era. Voyageur is a French word which literally translates to "traveler"...
.
Trails around portages usually began as animal tracks and were improved by tramping or blazing. In a few places iron-plated wooden rails were laid to take a handcart. Heavily used routes sometimes evolved into roads when sledges, rollers or oxen were used, as at Methye Portage
Methye Portage
The Methye Portage or Portage La Loche in northwestern Saskatchewan was one of the most important portages in the old fur-trade route across Canada. It connected the Mackenzie River basin to rivers that ran east to the Atlantic. It was reached by Peter Pond in 1778 and abandoned in 1883 when...
. Sometimes railways were built (Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad
Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad
The Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad was a historic railway in Lower Canada, the first Canadian public railway and one of the first railways built in British North America.-Origin:...
). The basic purpose of most canals is to avoid portages.
When going downstream through rapids an experienced voyageur called the guide would inspect the rapids and choose between the heavy work of a portage and the life-threatening task of running the rapids. If the second course were chosen, the boat would be controlled by the avant standing in front with a long paddle and the gouvernail standing in the back with a nine-foot steering paddle. The avant had a better view and was in charge but the gouvernail had more control over the boat. The other canoemen provided power under the instructions of the avant.
Going upstream was more difficult since there were many places where the current was too swift to paddle. Where the river bottom was shallow and firm, voyageurs would stand in the canoe and push it upstream with 10-foot poles. If the shoreline was reasonably clear the canoe could be 'tracked' or 'lined', that is, the canoemen would pull the canoe on a rope while one man stayed onboard to keep it away from the shore. (The most extreme case of tracking was in the Three Gorges in China where all boats had to be pulled upstream against the current of the Yangtze River
Yangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
.) In worse conditions, the 'demi-chargé' technique was used. Half the cargo was unloaded, the canoe forced upstream, unloaded and then returned downstream to pick up the remaining half of the cargo. In still worse currents, the entire cargo was unloaded ('décharge') and carried overland while the canoe was forced upstream . In the worst case a full portage was necessary. The canoe was carried overland by two or four men (the heavier York boats had to be drug overland on rollers) The cargo which was divided into standard 90-pound packs or pièces with each man responsible for about 6. One pack would be carried by a tumpline
Tumpline
/tump-lyne/A tumpline is a strap attached at both ends to a sack, backpack, or other luggage and used to carry the object by placing the strap over the top of the head. This utilizes the spine rather than the shoulders as standard backpack straps do...
and one on the back (strangulated hernia was a common cause of death). In order to evenly distribute loaded and unloaded periods the voyageur would drop his pack at a pose about every half mile and go back for the next load. The time for a portage was estimated at one hour per half mile.
Greco-Roman world
The DiolkosDiolkos
The Diolkos was a paved trackway near Corinth in Ancient Greece which enabled boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth. The shortcut allowed ancient vessels to avoid the dangerous circumnavigation of the Peloponnese peninsula...
was a paved trackway in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
which enabled boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth
Isthmus of Corinth
The Isthmus of Corinth is the narrow land bridge which connects the Peloponnese peninsula with the rest of the mainland of Greece, near the city of Corinth. The word "isthmus" comes from the Ancient Greek word for "neck" and refers to the narrowness of the land. The Isthmus was known in the ancient...
from the Gulf of Corinth
Gulf of Corinth
The Gulf of Corinth or the Corinthian Gulf is a deep inlet of the Ionian Sea separating the Peloponnese from western mainland Greece...
to the Saronic Gulf
Saronic Gulf
The Saronic Gulf or Gulf of Aegina in Greece forms part of the Aegean Sea and defines the eastern side of the isthmus of Corinth. It is the eastern terminus of the Corinth Canal, which cuts across the isthmus.-Geography:The gulf includes the islands of; Aegina, Salamis, and Poros along with...
. The 6 km (3.7 mi) to 8.5 km (5.3 mi) long roadway was a rudimentary form of railway, and operated from ca. 600 BC until the middle of the 1st century AD. The scale on which the Diolkos combined the two principles of the railway and the overland transport of ships remained unique in antiquity
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
.
There is scant literary evidence for two more ship trackways by that name in antiquity, both located in Roman Egypt: The physician Oribasius
Oribasius
Oribasius or Oreibasius was a Greek medical writer and the personal physician of the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate. He studied at Alexandria under physician Zeno of Cyprus before joining Julian's retinue. He was involved in Julian's coronation in 361, and remained with the emperor until...
(c. 320–400 AD) records two passages from his 1st century AD colleague Xenocrates
Xenocrates of Aphrodisias
Xenocrates a Greek physician of Aphrodisias in Cilicia, who must have lived about the middle of the 1st century, as he was probably a contemporary of Andromachus the Younger. Galen says that he lived in the second generation before himself...
, in which the latter casually refers to a diolkos close to the harbor of Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
which may have been located at the southern tip of the island of Pharos. Another diolkos is mentioned by Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
(90–168 AD) in his book on geography (IV, 5, 10) as connecting a false mouth of a partly silted up Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
branch with the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
.
In Russia
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
merchants-adventurers exploited a network of waterways in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, with portages connecting the four most important rivers of the region: Volga, Western Dvina, Dnieper, and Don
Don River (Russia)
The Don River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
. The portages of present-day Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
were vital for the Varangian commerce with the Orient
Orient
The Orient means "the East." It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Far East, in relation to Europe. In English it is a metonym that means various parts of Asia.- Derivation :...
and Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
.
At the most important portages (such as Gnezdovo
Gnezdovo
Gnezdovo or Gnyozdovo is an archeological site located near the village of Gnyozdovo in Smolensk Oblast, Russia. The site contains extensive remains of a Slavic-Varangian settlement that flourished in the 10th century as a major trade station on the trade route from the Varangians to the...
) there were trade outposts inhabited by a mixture of Norse merchants and native population. The Khazars
Khazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
built the fortress of Sarkel
Sarkel
Sarkel was a large limestone-and-brick fortress built by the Khazars with Byzantine assistance in the 830s. It was named white-house because of the white limestone bricks they have used to build Sarkel...
to guard a key portage between the Volga and the Don. After the Varangian and Khazar power in Eastern Europe waned, Slavic merchants continued to use the portages along the Volga trade route
Volga trade route
In the Middle Ages, the Volga trade route connected Northern Europe and Northwestern Russia with the Caspian Sea, via the Volga River. The Rus used this route to trade with Muslim countries on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, sometimes penetrating as far as Baghdad...
and the Dnieper trade route. The names of the towns Volokolamsk
Volokolamsk
Volokolamsk is a town and the administrative center of Volokolamsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Gorodenka River, not far from its confluence with the Lama River, northwest of Moscow. Population: -History:...
and Vyshny Volochek may be translated as "the portage on the Lama River
Lama River
Lama River is a river in the Moscow and Tver Oblasts in Russia, a tributary of the Shosha River. The length of the river is 139 km. The area of its basin is 2330 km². The Lama River freezes up in November and stays under the ice until late March - early April. Historically, the river was...
" and "the upper portage", respectively (the word "volok" means "portage" in Russian, derived from the verb "to drag").
In Africa
Portages played an important part in the economy of some African societies. For instance, BamakoBamako
Bamako is the capital of Mali and its largest city with a population of 1.8 million . Currently, it is estimated to be the fastest growing city in Africa and sixth fastest in the world...
was chosen as the capital of Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
because it is located on the Niger River
Niger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
near the rapids that divide the Upper and Middle Niger Valleys.
In North America
Places where portaging occurred often became temporary and then permanent settlements (such as Hull, QuebecHull, Quebec
Hull is the central and oldest part of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of the Canadian National Capital Region, it contains offices for twenty thousand...
; Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Sault Ste. Marie is a city on the St. Marys River in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, with a population of 74,948. The community was founded as a French religious mission: Sault either means "jump" or "rapids" in...
; New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
; and Chicago, Illinois). The importance of free passage through portages found them included in laws and treaties. The Northwest Ordinance
Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance was an act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States, passed July 13, 1787...
says "The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said territory as to the citizens of the United States..." The Treaty of Greenville
Treaty of Greenville
The Treaty of Greenville was signed at Fort Greenville , on August 3, 1795, between a coalition of Native Americans & Frontiers men, known as the Western Confederacy, and the United States following the Native American loss at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. It put an end to the Northwest Indian War...
between the U.S. and the Indian tribes of the area includes: "And the said Indian tribes will allow to the people of the United States a free passage by land and by water, as one and the other shall be found convenient, through their country,..." Then four portages are mentioned specifically. Portages are also used in the treaty to set boundaries ("The general boundary line between the lands of the United States and the lands of the said Indian tribes, shall begin at the mouth of Cayahoga river, and run thence up the same to the portage..."). One historically-important fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
portage is now Grand Portage National Monument
Grand Portage National Monument
Grand Portage National Monument is a United States National Monument located on the north shore of Lake Superior in northeastern Minnesota that preserves a vital center of fur trade activity and Anishinaabeg Ojibwe heritage....
. Recreational canoeing routes often include portages between lakes, for example, the Seven Carries
Seven Carries
.The Seven Carries is an historic canoe route from Paul Smith's Hotel to the Saranac Inn through what is now known as the Saint Regis Canoe Area in southern Franklin County, New York in the Adirondack Park...
route in Adirondack Park. Algonquin Park, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness , is a wilderness area within the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota under the administration of the U.S. Forest Service...
and Sylvania Wilderness
Sylvania Wilderness
Sylvania Wilderness is an protected area located a few miles west of Watersmeet, Michigan. Sylvania is located entirely within the bounds of the Ottawa National Forest, and is currently being managed as a wilderness area as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System by the U.S. Forest...
have famous portage routes.
Numerous portages were upgraded to carriageways and railways due to their economic importance. The Niagara Portage had a gravity railway in the 1760s. The passage between the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers (and so between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River systems) was through a short swamp portage which seasonally flooded and it is thought that a channel gradually developed unintentionally from the dragging of the boat bottoms. The 1835 Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad
Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad
The Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad was a historic railway in Lower Canada, the first Canadian public railway and one of the first railways built in British North America.-Origin:...
connected the cities of New York and Montreal without needing to go through the Atlantic. The passage between Lake Superior and Lake Huron was by a portage dragway of greased rails with capstans until a railway was built in 1850 and a canal in 1855. The 5-mile-long Nosbonsing and Nipissing Railway
Nosbonsing and Nipissing Railway
The Nosbonsing and Nipissing Railway was a portage railway constructed by Ottawa lumberman John Rudolphus Booth in 1884, although its Ontario charter dates from March 1886, after a land claim dispute when Northern and Pacific Junction Railway tried to cross it, J. R...
was built just to carry logs between lakes on their way to the sawmill. Allegheny Portage Railroad
Allegheny Portage Railroad
The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania, United States. It was a series of 10 inclines, approximately long, and operated from 1834 to 1854...
and Morris Canal
Morris Canal
The Morris Canal was an anthracite-carrying canal that incorporated a series of water-driven inclined planes in its course across northern New Jersey in the United States. It was in use for about a century — from the late 1820s to the 1920s....
both used canal inclined plane
Canal inclined plane
An inclined plane is a system used on some canals for raising boats between different water levels. Boats may be conveyed afloat, in caissons, or may be carried in cradles or slings. It can be considered as a specialised type of cable railway....
s to pass loaded boats through portages.
Sometimes the settlements were named for being on a portage. Some places so named are:
- Cranberry Portage, ManitobaCranberry Portage, ManitobaCranberry Portage, located in the Rural Municipality of Kelsey, Manitoba, was an important part of the pre-European contact trade routes of the Cree and Assiniboine peoples...
- Giscome PortageGiscome PortageThe Giscome Portage was a portage between the Fraser River and Summit Lake in British Columbia, Canada. The south end of the portage is now the location of a heritage site, the Huble Homestead, which is located on the Fraser River, 40 km north of Prince George and 6 km off Highway...
, British ColumbiaBritish ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858... - Grand Portage, MinnesotaGrand Portage, MinnesotaGrand Portage is an unorganized territory in Cook County, Minnesota, on Lake Superior, at the northeast corner of the state near the border with northwestern Ontario. The population was 557 at the 2000 census...
- Portage, IndianaPortage, IndianaPortage is a city in Portage Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 36,828 as of the 2010 census. It is the largest city in Porter County, and third largest in Northwest Indiana.-Geography:...
- Portage, MichiganPortage, MichiganPortage is a city in Kalamazoo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 46,292 at the 2010 census. It is the smaller of the two main cities included in the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 326,589 as of 2010.Portage is adjacent to the...
- Portage, Montana
- Portage, PennsylvaniaPortage, PennsylvaniaPortage is a borough within Portage Township in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Ebensburg and west-southwest of Altoona. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. Coal mining was the lifeblood of Portage. In 1900, 816 people lived there, and in 1910,...
- Portage, WisconsinPortage, WisconsinPortage is a city in and the county seat of Columbia County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 10,662 at the 2010 census making it the largest city in Columbia County...
- Portage BayPortage BayPortage Bay is an arm of Seattle, Washington's Lake Union and is part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal. Its western limit can be said to be the Ship Canal Bridge, which carries Interstate 5 over the water; North Passage Point Park and South Passage Point Park sit on opposite shores between the...
, Washington - Portage County, OhioPortage County, OhioPortage County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 152,061 at the 2000 Census and 161,419 at the 2010 Census. Its county seat is Ravenna. Portage County is named for the portage between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas Rivers...
- Portage County, WisconsinPortage County, WisconsinPortage County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2000, the population was 67,182. Its county seat is Stevens Point. The United States Census Bureau's Stevens Point Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Portage County.-Geography:...
- Portage Park, ChicagoPortage Park, ChicagoPortage Park is located on the northwest side of the City of Chicago, Illinois and is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas. Portage Park is bordered by the community areas of Jefferson Park and Forest Glen to the north, Dunning and the suburb of Harwood Heights to the west,...
- Portage-du-Fort, QuebecPortage-du-Fort, QuebecPortage-du-Fort is a village and municipality in the Pontiac Regional County Municipality in the southwest corner of the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada...
- Portage la Prairie, ManitobaPortage la Prairie, Manitoba-Transportation:Portage la Prairie railway station is served by Via Rail with both The Canadian and Winnipeg – Churchill trains calling at the station....
- Rat Portage, OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
- Seton Portage, British ColumbiaSeton Portage, British ColumbiaSeton Portage is a historic rural community in British Columbia, Canada, that is about 25 km west of Lillooet, located between Seton Lake and Anderson Lake. "The Portage" was formed about 10,000 years ago when the flank of the Cayoosh Range, which is the south flank of the valley, let go and...
- Bayou Portage, Louisiana
In New Zealand
Portages existed in a number of locations where an isthmus existed that the local Māori could drag or carry their wakaWaka (canoe)
Waka are Māori watercraft, usually canoes ranging in size from small, unornamented canoes used for fishing and river travel, to large decorated war canoes up to long...
across from the Tasman Sea
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...
to the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
or vice versa. The most famous ones are located in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, where there remain two 'Portage Road's in separate parts of the city.