{"id":14253,"date":"2013-10-24T18:57:15","date_gmt":"2013-10-24T23:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=14253"},"modified":"2022-06-28T06:05:13","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T11:05:13","slug":"portage-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/portage-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"Portage USA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The U.S. government shutdown ended last week and I forgot that I still had one piece of unfinished business remaining. The USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS<\/a>) came back online so I was ready to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I focused on Canadian portages<\/a> previously, and I had a great time doing that by the way. Now I could draft the article I intended to write originally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Wisconsin Portage Disconnect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

GNIS allowed patterns to reveal themselves and I notice two rather substantial portages in Wisconsin; one a county<\/a> with 70,000 residents and the other a city<\/a> with a population of 10,000. Also I noticed a solid 75 mile separation<\/a> between the Portage County seat (Stevens Point) and the city of Portage. Were these distinct portages or not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, they both referenced the same place, the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. The Fox River drained to the Great Lakes via Green Bay and Lake Michigan. The Wisconsin River flowed into the Mississippi River. So Portage became important historically to the Native Americans and the early European explorers. Barely a couple of miles separated two immense watersheds right at that spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Portage<\/a>
Portage County and Town (asterisk) on May 29, 1848<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Portage, the city, was once located in Portage the county. That was true when Wisconsin was a territory and also when it became a state in 1848. I’ve reproduced and annotated a map image from Newberry Library Atlas of Historical County Boundaries<\/a> as evidence. It clearly included the river portage within the far southern edge of what was then Portage County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portage County, Wisconsin Maps and Written History<\/a> described the situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Since the formation of Portage county, in December, 1836, it has been subjected to more frequent and radical changes of territorial limit than perhaps any other county in the state.<\/mark>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Essentially, the southern edge of the Portage County border crept steadily northward between 1836 and 1849. Eventually the city and the county became completely disconnected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Portage areas around Akron, Ohio<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Passing<\/a>
Passing the Portage Lakes of Ohio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I found quite a cluster of places named portage in the general vicinity of Akron, Ohio. These included Portage County<\/a> to the east and the Portage Lakes adjacent to the south. They represented various points of portage between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas Rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with the situation in Wisconsin, the portage connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi. The Cuyahoga River drained into Lake Erie. The Tuscarawas River drained into the Muskingum then into the Ohio and finally into the Mississippi River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I found a village named Portage in the northwestern corner of the state. Nonetheless, it had nothing to do with the Great Lakes or the Mississippi. Rather, it seemed to relate<\/a> to the Portage River. The river, in turn, “… most likely derives its name from early explorers who were forced to portage or carry their canoes and boats around the river’s intermittent shallows and rapids<\/em>“. So it didn’t connect great watersheds, it referenced a barely navigable river of little greater significance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Portage Creek, Alaska<\/h2>\n\n\n\n