The Portage Canal was built to connect the Fox River and

Wisconsin River The Wisconsin River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At approximately 430 miles (692 km) long, it is the state's longest river. The river's name, first recorded in 1673 by Jacques Marquette as "Meskous ...

Portage, Wisconsin Portage is a city in and the county seat of Columbia County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 10,581 at the 2020 census making it the largest city in Columbia County. The city is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. Po ...

along the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway. For a time, it completed a route from the north Atlantic Ocean, through the St. Lawrence Seaway and down the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

, and back to the Atlantic.

History

Numerous attempts were made to build the thin Wisconsin-Fox connection through the marshy land, beginning in 1837 with the formation of the Portage Canal Company. Digging and hauling by hand through two and a half miles of muddy terrain, the project was quickly abandoned. A second project, started in 1849, managed to cut a path usable by canoe, but not viable for commerce. The final project, complete with locks to raise the water level of the Fox to that of the Wisconsin's, was not completed until 1876 by the Army Corps of Engineers. Unfortunately, by then, the railroads were quick on their way, followed soon thereafter by the automobile. The Portage Canal acquired a new steel gate and concrete lock in 1926 due to a rupture of the 1876 wooden gate and the quoin post of the west gate of the lock in April 1926. A local contractor, M.E. White Company of Chicago, Illinois was awarded the bid, August 1926. The firm completed the repairs of lock and replace of the 1876 wooden gate under the supervision of the U. S Army Corps of Engineers, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The 1926 Portage Canal Lock was the first steel and concrete lock on the Fox River. The subcontractor for the steel gate was the Lakeside Bridge and Steel Company of Wisconsin. During the re-construction process the Engineers were faced with containing underground springs beneath the lock, which caused considerable delays. The White Construction Co. repaired the fallen wall and dismantled the remaining wall of the lock, which were re-laid, and constructed according to the original configurations of the 1876 construction. The White Construction Company used 9,000 barrels of Portland cement to build the locks. The canal lock and new gate were completed in May 1928. Portage Canal emptying into Fox River

The use of the canal as a major means of commerce lasted only a few decades, though pleasure craft, including steamboats, continued to ply the narrow waterway. In following years, the canal began to degrade through lack of upkeep. The canal was used until 1951, when the Fort Winnebago Lock was bulldozed in and the Wisconsin River Locks were welded shut. Currently, water pumps provide the only substantial flow and

aeration Aeration (also called aerification or aeriation) is the process by which air is circulated through, mixed with or dissolved in a liquid or other substances that act as a fluid (such as soil). Aeration processes create additional surface area in ...

. Continued attempts have been made to restore the remainder of the canal to its original condition and the Portage Canal Society continues to try to raise funds and make improvements. In the fall of 2015, ground was broken along the eastern part of the downtown section to construct government offices and is expected to be completed and open in 2017.Lodi Enterprise
"Eminent domain options explored"
Lodi Enterprise retrieved March 16, 2016.

References

External links

Portage Canal Society
{{Registered Historic Places Canals in Wisconsin Portage, Wisconsin Canals opened in 1876 National Register of Historic Places in Columbia County, Wisconsin Canals on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Portages on the National Register of Historic Places Fox–Wisconsin Waterway