View source for Portage

{{Short description|Practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Portage-prospector.jpg|thumb|right|Portaging a tandem Prospector canoe in [[Algonquin Park]]]]
[[File:Photograph of Canoe Rest on Smoke Lake Portage - NARA - 2128454.jpg|thumb|Canoe rest along a portage trail]]
'''Portage''' or '''portaging''' (<small>[[Canadian English|CA]]:</small> {{IPAc-en|p|ɔːr|ˈ|t|ɑː|ʒ}}; {{IPAc-en|us|ˈ|p|ɔːr|t|ɪ|dʒ}}) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ''portage.'' The term comes from French, where {{lang|fr|porter}} means "to carry", as in "portable". 

Early French explorers in [[New France]] and [[Louisiana (New France)|French Louisiana]] encountered many [[rapids]] and [[Fan waterfalls|cascades]]. The [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]]s carried their [[canoe]]s over land to avoid river obstacles.

Over time, important portages were sometimes provided with [[canal]]s with [[canal lock|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 [[thwart|strut]] may be designed in the style of a [[yoke]] to facilitate this. Historically, [[voyageurs]] often employed [[tump line]]s on their heads to carry loads on their backs.

Portages can be many kilometers in length, such as the {{convert|19|km|mi|adj=on}} [[Methye Portage]] and the {{convert|8+1/2|mi|km|0|order=flip|adj=on}} [[Grand Portage National Monument|Grand Portage]] (both in North America) often covering hilly or difficult terrain. Some portages involve very little elevation change, such as the very short [[Mavis Grind]] in [[Shetland]], which crosses an [[isthmus]].

==Technique==
This section deals mostly with the heavy freight canoes used by the Canadian [[Voyageurs]].<ref name="fraser">{{citation
 | last = Fraser
 | first = P. M.
 | title = The ΔΙΟΛΚΟΣ of Alexandria
 | journal = [[Journal of Egyptian Archaeology|The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology]]
 | volume = 47 
 | pages = 134–138
 | year = 1961
 | doi=10.2307/3855873| jstor = 3855873
 }}</ref>

Portage trails 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 ([[Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad]]) or canals were built.

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 risk 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 {{convert|9|ft|m|order=flip|adj=on}} 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.'' 
[[File:Photograph of Railroad Portage - NARA - 2128318.jpg|right|thumb|Small railway portage in the U.S.]]

Going upstream was more difficult, as 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 {{convert|10|ft|m|0|order=flip|adj=on}} 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 on board 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 dragged overland on rollers). The cargo was divided into standard {{convert|90|lb|kg|order=flip|adj=on}} packs or ''pièces'', with each man responsible for about six. One portage or [[canoe pack]] would be carried by a [[tumpline]] and one on the back ([[strangulated hernia]] was a common cause of death). To allow regular rests the voyageur would drop his pack at a ''pose'' about every {{convert|1/2|mi|km|0|order=flip}} and go back for the next load. The time for a portage was estimated at one hour per half mile.

==History==

===Europe===

====Greco-Roman world====
[[File:Diolkos, Western End. Pic 04.jpg|thumb|upright|Paved section of the ''[[Diolkos]]'']]

The ''[[Diolkos]]'' was a paved trackway in [[Ancient Greece]] which enabled boats to be moved overland across the [[Isthmus of Corinth]] between the [[Gulf of Corinth]] and the [[Saronic Gulf]]. It was constructed to transport high ranking [[Despotism|Despots]] to conduct business in the justice system. The {{convert|6|to(-)|8.5|km|mi|frac=2|adj=mid|-long}} roadway was a rudimentary form of [[railway]],<ref name="lewis">{{citation
 |last          = Lewis
 |first         = M. j. t.
 |contribution  = Railways in the Greek and Roman world
 |title         = Early Railways. A Selection of Papers from the First International Early Railways Conference
 |editor-last   = Guy
 |editor-first  = A.
 |editor2-last  = Rees
 |editor2-first = J.
 |pages         = 8–19 (10–15)
 |year          = 2001
 |url           = http://www.sciencenews.gr/docs/diolkos.pdf
 |url-status       = dead
 |archive-url    = https://web.archive.org/web/20091007111319/http://www.sciencenews.gr/docs/diolkos.pdf
 |archive-date   = 2009-10-07
}}</ref> and operated from around 600 BC until the middle of the 1st century AD.<ref name="raepsaet">{{citation
 | last1 = Raepsaet
 | first1 = G.
 | last2 = Tolley
 | first2 = M.
 | title = Le Diolkos de l'Isthme à Corinthe: son tracé, son fonctionnement
 | journal = Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique
|language=fr
 | volume = 117
 | pages = 233–261
 | year = 1993
 | doi=10.3406/bch.1993.1679}}
</ref>
<ref name=verdelis>{{citation
 | last = Verdelis
 | first = N. M.
 | title = Le diolkos de L'Isthme
 | journal = Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique
 | language = fr
 | volume = 81
 | pages = 526&ndash;529
 | year = 1957
 | doi = 10.3406/bch.1957.2388
 | url = http://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/bch_0007-4217_1957_num_81_1_2388.pdf
 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
<ref name="cook">{{citation
 | last = Cook
 | first = R. M.
 |author-link = Robert Manuel Cook
 | title = Archaic Greek Trade: Three Conjectures 1. The Diolkos
 | journal = [[Journal of Hellenic Studies|The Journal of Hellenic Studies]]
 | volume = 99
 | pages = 152–155
 | year = 1979
 | doi=10.2307/630641| jstor = 630641
 }}</ref>
<ref name="drijvers">{{citation
 | last = Drijvers
 | first = J. W.
 | title = Strabo VIII 2,1 (C335): Porthmeia and the Diolkos
 | journal = Mnemosyne
 | volume = 45
 | pages = 75–78
 | year = 1992}}
</ref>
The scale on which the Diolkos combined the two principles of the railway and the overland transport of ships was unique in [[ancient history|antiquity]].<ref name=lewis/>

There is scant literary evidence for two more ship trackways referred to as diolkoi in antiquity, both located in [[Roman Egypt]]: The physician [[Oribasius]]<ref>Coll. Med II, 58, 54-55 (CMG VI, 1, 1)</ref> ({{circa|320–400&nbsp;CE}}) records two passages from his first-century colleague [[Xenocrates of Aphrodisias|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.<ref name="fraser"/> Another diolkos is mentioned by [[Ptolemy]] (90–168&nbsp;CE) in his book on geography (IV, 5, 10) as connecting a false mouth of a partly silted up [[Nile]] branch with the [[Mediterranean Sea]].<ref name="fraser"/>

Writing in the first half of the eighth century, [[Cosmas of Jerusalem]] describes the portage of boats across the narrowest part of the [[Thracian Chersonese]] (Gallipoli Peninsula) between the [[Aegean Sea]] and the [[Sea of Marmara]]. The peninsula there is six miles wide. Cosmas describes the dragging of small boats as common in his day for local trade between [[Thrace]] and [[Gothograecia]]. The motivation for this practice was to avoid the long detour around the peninsula and through the [[Dardanelles]], but also to avoid the customs house at [[Abydos (Hellespont)|Abydos]]. It would have been too costly to regularly move large ships across the peninsula, but Cosmas says that [[Constantine IV]] did it, presumably during the [[Siege of Constantinople (674–678)|blockade of Constantinople]] (670/1–676/7) when the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles were controlled by the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]]. Constantine is said to have "driven" the ships rather than dragged them, probably indicating the use of wheels.<ref>{{citation |author=[[Constantin Zuckerman]] |year=1995 |title=A Gothia in the Hellespont in the Early Eighth Century |journal=Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=234–241 |doi=10.1179/030701395790836649|s2cid=162205022 }}.</ref> Archaeological evidence for a portage across the Thracian Chersonese is lacking, but it is possible that traces of it have been confused with traces of the [[Long Wall (Thracian Chersonese)|Long Wall]], which was restored by [[Justinian I]] in the 6th century. The region also saw extensive damage during the [[Gallipoli Campaign]] of 1915.<ref>{{citation |author=John F. Haldon |title=Kosmas of Jerusalem and the Gotthograikoi |journal=Byzantinoslavica |volume=56 |issue=1 |year=1995 |pages=45–54 |url=https://www.academia.edu/33042336}}.</ref>

====Pre-Viking and Viking era northern Germany====
The Skagerak always has been treacherous for shipping and early navigators tried to avoid it. There are various river systems in (modern) northern Germany and southern Denmark where the watershed is narrow and low, such as between the Treene (discharging into the North Sea) and the Schlei (discharging into the Baltic) that would have allowed portage. There is no certain physical or written evidence, except that it is known that goods were transported along these routes between different merchant settlements.

====Venetian Republic====
[[File:Mappa galeas colori.jpg|right|thumb|A map of the trip of the Venetian warships.]]
The land link between [[Adige]] River and [[Lake Garda|Garda]] Lake in [[Northern Italy]], hardly used by the smallest watercraft, was at least once used by the [[Venetian Republic]] for the transport of a military fleet in 1439. The land link is now somewhat harder because of the disappearance of [[Lago di Loppio|Loppio]] Lake.

====Russia====
{{Further|Don–Volga portage}}
[[File:Yermak Timofeyevich and his band of adventurers crossing the Ural Mountains at Tagil, entering Asia from Europe.jpg|thumb|[[Yermak Timofeyevich]] and his band of adventurers crossing the [[Ural Mountains]] over the Tagil portage, entering Asia from Europe]]

In the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries, [[Viking]] merchant-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 River (Russia)|Don]]. The portages of what is now [[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 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 little upper portage", respectively (from [[Russian language|Russian]] {{lang|ru|волок}} {{Transliteration|ru|volok}}, meaning "portage", derived from the verb {{lang|ru|волочить}} {{Transliteration|ru|voločitʹ}} "to drag").

In the 16th century, the Russians used river portages to get to [[Siberia]] (see [[Cherdyn Road]]).

====Scotland and Ireland====
[[Tarbert]] is a common place name in Scotland and Ireland indicating the site of a portage.

===Africa===
Portages played an important role in the economy of some African societies. For instance, [[Bamako]] 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.

===North America===
{{main|Portages in North America}}
[[Image:Boat-carrying wagon, Adk Museum.jpg|thumb|In the [[Adirondacks]] at portages that were heavily used, horse-drawn wagons like this one were furnished with racks for carrying several boats at once, for a fee. This example is typical of those used in the 1890s. ([[Adirondack Museum]]).]]
Places where portaging occurred often became temporary and then permanent settlements. The importance of free passage through portages found them included in laws and treaties. 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]]. (In the Adirondacks, a portage is traditionally called a "carry".)

Numerous portages were upgraded to carriageways and railways due to their economic importance. The [[Lewiston (town), New York|Niagara Portage]] had a gravity railway in the 1760s. [[Chicago Portage|The passage]] between the [[Chicago River|Chicago]] and [[Des Plaines River]]s 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.<ref>[http://www.chicagoportage.org/synopsis.htm The Chicago Portage - Historical Synopsis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312105245/http://www.chicagoportage.org/synopsis.htm |date=2016-03-12 }}, prepared by Wm. E. Rose and Associates, Inc., for the [[Forest Preserve District of Cook County]], June 1975</ref> The 1835 [[Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad]] connected the cities of New York and Montreal without needing to go through the Atlantic.

Many settlements in North America were named for being on a portage.

===Oceania===

====New Zealand====
{{main|Portages of New Zealand}}
Portages existed in a number of locations where an isthmus existed that the local [[Māori people|Māori]] could drag or carry their [[waka (canoe)|waka]] across from the [[Tasman Sea]] to the [[Pacific Ocean]] or vice versa. The most famous ones are located in [[Auckland]], where there remain three roads named 'Portage Road's in separate parts of the city. [[Portage Road, Ōtāhuhu|Portage Road]] in the Auckland suburb of [[Ōtāhuhu|Otahuhu]] has historical plaques at both the north and south ends proclaiming it to be 'at half a mile in length, surely the shortest road between two seas'.

The small Marlborough Sounds settlement of Portage lies on the [[Kenepuru Sound]] which links Queen Charlotte Sound at Torea Bay. This portage was created by mid-19th century settler Robert Blaymires.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/marlborough-places/page-3 |first=Malcolm |last=McKinnon |title=Marlborough places - Outer Sounds|publisher=[[Te Ara: the Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |date=12 May 2012 |access-date=22 July 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Porter (carrier)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Canoeing and kayaking}}

[[Category:Physical geography]]
[[Category:Water transport]]
[[Category:Portages|*]]