Portage, or portaging, is the act of carrying boats or cargo over land. This is done to go around obstacles in rivers or to move between two bodies of water. A path used for regularly moving items between water bodies is also called a portage. The word comes from French, where "porter" means "to carry," like in the word "portable."

Early French explorers in New France and French Louisiana faced many fast-moving rivers and waterfalls. Native Americans carried their canoes over land to avoid these river obstacles.

Over time, important portages sometimes had canals with locks or even railways built to help move goods. Simple portaging usually requires carrying a boat and its contents across the land in several trips. Small canoes can be carried upside down on a person's shoulders, and the middle support of the canoe may be shaped like a yoke to make this easier. Historically, people called voyageurs used tump lines on their heads to help carry heavy loads on their backs.

Some portages are very long, such as the 19-kilometer (about 12-mile) Methye Portage and the 14-kilometer (about 8.5-mile) Grand Portage in North America. These often cross hilly or difficult land. Other portages are very short, like the Mavis Grind in Shetland, which crosses a narrow strip of land called an isthmus and has little change in height.

Technique

This section focuses on the movement of heavy freight canoes used by Canadian Voyageurs.

Portage trails often started as paths made by animals and were improved by walking, marking trees, and clearing brush. In some places, iron-plated wooden rails were placed to help move hand carts. Some heavily used portages became roads where sleds, rollers, or oxen could be used, such as at Methye Portage. In other cases, railways (like the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad) or canals were built.

When traveling downstream and reaching rapids, an experienced Voyageur called the guide would examine the rapids and decide between the hard work of a portage or the dangerous risk of navigating the rapids. If the decision was to run the rapids, the boat was steered by the "avant," who stood at the front with a long paddle, and the "gouvernail," who stood at the back with a 2.7-meter (9 ft) steering paddle. The "avant" had a better view and led the team, but the "gouvernail" had more control over the boat. Other canoemen provided the power under the "avant's" direction.

Traveling upstream was more difficult because the river current was often too strong to paddle against. When the river bottom was shallow and firm, Voyageurs would stand in the canoe and use 3-meter (10 ft) poles to push the boat upstream. If the shoreline was clear of obstacles, the canoe was "tracked" or "lined," meaning canoemen pulled the canoe on a rope while one person stayed on board to steer it away from the shore. In extreme cases, like the Three Gorges in China, all boats had to be pulled upstream against the Yangtze River's strong current.

In other situations, the "demi-chargé" method was used. Half the cargo was removed, the canoe was pushed upstream, then unloaded, and returned downstream to collect the remaining cargo. When facing very strong currents, all cargo was removed ("décharge") and carried overland while the canoe was pushed upstream.

Sometimes, a full portage was needed. The canoe was emptied, carried overland by two or four men, or dragged (heavier York boats were dragged on rollers). Cargo was divided into standard 41-kilogram (90 lb) packs or "pièces," with each person carrying about six. One pack was carried on the back using a tumpline, and another was carried in front. Strangulated hernia was a common cause of death for Voyageurs. On long portages, packs were left at rest stops set up about every 1 kilometer (1/2 mile) so Voyageurs could return for more cargo.

Portages varied in length and time required. For example, Methye Portage was 19 kilometers (12 miles) long. A portage about half a mile (a bit less than a kilometer or 160 rods) would take 15–20 minutes to walk. With multiple trips, a portage was estimated to take one hour per half mile (160 rods) or more.

History

The Diolkos was a paved path in Ancient Greece that allowed boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf. It was built to help important officials travel for legal matters. The 6-to-8.5-kilometer-long (3 to 5-mile) path was an early type of railway and was used from about 600 BC until the middle of the 1st century AD. The Diolkos combined the ideas of railways and moving ships overland in a way that was unique for its time.

There is little written evidence about two other ship paths called diolkoi in Roman Egypt. A doctor named Oribasius (around 320–400 CE) wrote about a path near Alexandria, possibly at the southern tip of the island of Pharos. Another path was mentioned by Ptolemy (90–168 CE) in his geography book, which described a connection between a partly blocked Nile branch and the Mediterranean Sea.

In the early 8th century, Cosmas of Jerusalem wrote about moving boats across the narrowest part of the Thracian Chersonese (Gallipoli Peninsula) between the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. The peninsula was six miles wide. Cosmas noted that small boats were often dragged for local trade between Thrace and Gothograecia to avoid a long detour around the peninsula and through the Dardanelles, as well as to avoid a customs house. Moving large ships across the peninsula was too costly, but Constantine IV reportedly moved them during a blockade of Constantinople (670/1–676/7) when the Umayyads controlled the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles. He may have used wheels to move the ships. No archaeological evidence for this path has been found, but it might be confused with the Long Wall, which was restored in the 6th century. The area was also damaged during the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915.

The Skagerrak has always been dangerous for ships, and early sailors tried to avoid it. In modern northern Germany and southern Denmark, there are river systems with narrow watersheds, like between the Treene (draining into the North Sea) and the Schlei (draining into the Baltic Sea), which could have allowed portage. There is no clear physical or written proof, but it is known that goods were transported along these routes between merchant settlements.

A land connection between the Adige River and Garda Lake in northern Italy was rarely used for small boats but was used once by the Venetian Republic to move a military fleet in 1439. This path is now harder to use because Loppio Lake has disappeared.

In the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries, Viking merchants used a network of waterways in Eastern Europe, connected by portages that linked the Volga, Western Dvina, Dnieper, and Don rivers. These portages were important for trade with the East and Byzantium. At key locations like Gnezdovo, trade outposts were built where Norse merchants and local people lived. The Khazars built a fortress called Sarkel to protect a portage between the Volga and Don rivers. After Viking and Khazar power declined, Slavic merchants continued using these routes.

The names of towns like Volokolamsk and Vyshny Volochek may mean "portage on the Lama River" and "little upper portage," respectively. These names come from the Russian word "volok," meaning "portage," which comes from the verb "volochit," meaning "to drag."

In the 16th century, Russians used river portages to reach Siberia, such as the Cherdyn Road. The name "Tarbert" appears in Scotland and Ireland and refers to places where portages occurred.

Portages were important in African societies. For example, Bamako became the capital of Mali because it is on the Niger River near rapids that divide the Upper and Middle Niger Valleys.

Places where portages happened often became temporary or permanent settlements. Laws and treaties sometimes included rules about free passage through portages. One famous portage used in the fur trade is now Grand Portage National Monument. Recreational canoe routes often include portages, like the Seven Carries route in Adirondack Park (where a portage is called a "carry").

Many portages were improved into roads and railways because of their economic value. The Niagara Portage had a gravity railway in the 1760s. A short swamp portage between the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers was used, and a channel may have formed unintentionally from dragging boat bottoms. The 1835 Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad connected New York and Montreal without needing to go through the Atlantic.

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

In New Zealand, the Māori used portages to move their canoes (waka) across isthmuses between the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. In Auckland, three roads named "Portage Road" exist in different parts of the city. Portage Road in Otahuhu has plaques stating it is "half a mile long, surely the shortest road between two seas."

In the Marlborough Sounds, a settlement called Portage lies on Kenepuru Sound, which connects Queen Charlotte Sound at Torea Bay. This portage was created by settler Robert Blaymires in the mid-19th century.