A place where canoes have to be carried across land.
1698. Our Men had a great deal of trouble; for they were oblig’d to make several Turnings to carry the Provisions and Ammunition, and the Portage was two Leagues long.—Trans. of Hennepin’s ‘America,’ p. 75. (N.E.D.)
1821. The canoe of Governour Cass was transported over a portage of about nine miles, to the head of the Wabash.—Mass. Spy, Oct. 10: from the Detroit Gazette, Sept. 7.
