Portages in North America

Portages in North America usually began as animal tracks and were improved by tramping or blazing.

Heavily used routes sometimes evolved into roads when sledges, rollers or oxen were used, as at Methye Portage.

[1] Places where portaging occurred often became temporary and then permanent settlements (such as Hull, Quebec; Sault Ste.

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.

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.