Portage
Portage or portaging (CA: /pɔːrˈtɑːʒ/; US: /ˈpɔːrtɪdʒ/) 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 porter means "to carry", as in "portable". In Canada, the term "carrying-place" was sometimes used.
Early French explorers in
Over time, important portages were sometimes provided with
Portages can be many kilometers in length, such as the 19-kilometre (12 mi) Methye Portage and the 14-kilometre (8+1⁄2 mi) 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.[1]
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 2.7-metre (9 ft) 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, 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 3-metre (10 ft) 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
History
Europe
Greco-Roman world
The [4] [5] [6] The scale on which the Diolkos combined the two principles of the railway and the overland transport of ships was unique in antiquity.[2]
There is scant literary evidence for two more ship trackways referred to as diolkoi in antiquity, both located in Roman Egypt: The physician Oribasius[7] (c. 320–400 CE) records two passages from his first-century 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.[1] Another diolkos is mentioned by Ptolemy (90–168 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.[1]
Writing in the first half of the eighth century,
Venetian Republic
The land link between
Russia
In the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries,
.At the most important portages (such as
The names of the towns
In the 16th century, the Russians used river portages to get to
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
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.
Numerous portages were upgraded to carriageways and railways due to their economic importance. The
Many settlements in North America were named for being on a portage.
Oceania
New Zealand
Portages existed in a number of locations where an isthmus existed that the local Māori could drag or carry their 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 in the Auckland suburb of 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.[11]
See also
References
- ^ JSTOR 3855873
- ^ a b Lewis, M. j. t. (2001), "Railways in the Greek and Roman world", in Guy, A.; Rees, J. (eds.), Early Railways. A Selection of Papers from the First International Early Railways Conference (PDF), pp. 8–19 (10–15), archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-07
- JSTOR 630641
- ^ Drijvers, J. W. (1992), "Strabo VIII 2,1 (C335): Porthmeia and the Diolkos", Mnemosyne, 45: 75–78
- ^ Coll. Med II, 58, 54-55 (CMG VI, 1, 1)
- S2CID 162205022.
- ^ John F. Haldon (1995), "Kosmas of Jerusalem and the Gotthograikoi", Byzantinoslavica, 56 (1): 45–54.
- ^ The Chicago Portage - Historical Synopsis Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine, prepared by Wm. E. Rose and Associates, Inc., for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, June 1975
- Te Ara: the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 22 July 2022.