HISTORIC PORTAGE

Portage, Columbia County. September, 1967. Altitude 10,000 feet. The city of Portage is seen in an oblique view to the northeast. The channel of the Wisconsin River, containing several sand islands, is at lower right. The Upper Fox River, here only a small stream, meanders across the upper portion of the view. The prominent Fox-Wisconsin Canal connects the two rivers. It is approximately 1 1/2 miles in length. No longer in use, it was built in the mid-nineteenth century to connect the two rivers which historically comprised the only east-west transportation route across Wisconsin, from Green Bay on the Great Lakes to Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi.