Portage Lake (Michigan)

Portage Lake is a natural lake, located in Onekama Township in Manistee County, Michigan. The village of Onekama, Michigan is situated at the northeastern end of the lake.

History

The Lake was first identified as Portage Lake in 1837, when Joseph Stronach named the natural stream at Portage Point that flowed into Lake Michigan as Portage Creek. In that same year, the U.S. Government survey identified the lake as "O-nek-a-ma-engk or Portage Lake". The 26th Congress first published this survey information. The first map to show and to name the lake was entitled "The State of Michigan and the Surrounding Country," published by John Farmer of Detroit in 1844.

The lake was first formed during the Wisconsinian glacial age (10,000 to 75,000 years ago) as an arm of Lake Michigan that later closed. It has a 15,808-acre (6,397 ha) watershed with a number of ground-fed small streams.

In more recent times and up until May 14, 1871, the lake was a landlocked body of water with a water level about 12 to 14 feet (4.3 m) above the level of Lake Michigan. On that date in 1871, homesteaders around the lake, who had objected to the practices of the saw mill owner at Portage in raising the lake level to power their saw mill, dug a channel through the narrow isthmus about a mile south of the natural outlet at Portage Creek.

Portage Lake

Portage Lake may refer to:

Placenames in the United States:

Lakes in the United States:

Portage Lake (Aitkin County, Minnesota)

Portage Lake is a lake in Aitkin County, Minnesota, in the United States.

Portage Lake was so named from the fact that at the lake it was no longer necessary to portage the canoe.

See also

References

Coordinates: 46°35′12″N 93°25′15″W / 46.58667°N 93.42083°W / 46.58667; -93.42083