Portage

There is more than one place called Portage, or with "portage" as part of its name. Historically, a portage is a place where travellers would carry their canoes and cargo around rapids or from one waterway to another. The word is derived from the French verb porter meaning "to carry"; several other words which occur in both French and English, such as "portable" and "portmanteau", are from the same root.

There are dozens of portages from the old fur trade routes, used by voyageurs (French for travellers) mainly based in Montreal, all over Western Canada and the Northwestern US. Not all of them have "portage" in the name; for example Sault Sainte Marie (Ontario) and Sault Sainte Marie (Michigan) are at an old portage, but the word "sault" describes the rapids there; a literal translation is "leap".

Canada

 * Portage la Prairie, often abbreviated to just "Portage", a city in Manitoba
 * Portage Avenue is a major street in downtown Winnipeg; the corner of Portage & Main is generally considered the center of the city

New Zealand

 * The area that is now Auckland had Maori portage routes between the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean. Today there are two streets called Portage Road, in different parts of the city.

United States of America

 * Grand Portage - Part of a historic fur trade route, with both a State Park and a National Monument, on the Minnesota-Ontario border.
 * Portage (Indiana) - A small city in Indiana.
 * Portage (Michigan) - A small city in Michigan.
 * Portage (Wisconsin) - A town in Wisconsin.
 * Portage Park - A district of Northwest Chicago.

What is now a popular recreational canoe route in the Adirondacks is known as the "seven carries"; the name is a translation of "sept portages".

See also Portage County