Portage is a former settlement on Turnagain Arm in Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, about 47 miles (75.6 km) south of Anchorage

Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...

. The town was destroyed almost entirely in the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake

Good Friday Earthquake

The 1964 Alaska earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan Earthquake, the Portage Earthquake and the Good Friday Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that began at 5:36 P.M. AST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964...

 when the ground in the area sank about six feet, putting most of it below sea level. All that remains today are the ruins of a few buildings and a "ghost forest" of trees that died after salt water inundated their root systems. Where there was once a town there is now only a railroad and road junction linking the Seward Highway

Seward Highway

The Seward Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska that extends 127 miles from Seward to Anchorage. It was completed in 1951 and runs through the scenic Kenai Peninsula and Turnagain Arm, for which it was designated an All-American Road by the U.S...

 and the Alaska Railroad

Alaska Railroad

The Alaska Railroad is a Class II railroad which extends from Seward and Whittier, in the south of the state of Alaska, in the United States, to Fairbanks , and beyond to Eielson Air Force Base and Fort Wainwright in the interior of that state...

 to Portage Glacier

Portage Glacier

Portage Glacier is a glacier on the Kenai Peninsula of the U.S. state of Alaskaand is included within the Chugach National Forest. It is located south of Portage Lake and 6 km west of Whittier....

 park and the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel

Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel

The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel is a tunnel through Maynard Mountain in the U.S. state of Alaska. It links the Seward Highway south of Anchorage at the former town of Portage with the relatively isolated community of Whittier, a port for the Alaska Marine Highway...

, which leads to Whittier

Whittier, Alaska

Whittier is a city in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area, in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of 2006, the population was 177. The city is also a port for the Alaska Marine Highway.-Geography:...

.