Portage Lake | |
---|---|
Location | Onekama Township, Manistee County, Michigan |
Coordinates | 44°21′36″N086°14′25″W / 44.36000°N 86.24028°W |
Type | natural lake |
Basin countries | United States |
Max. length | 3 miles (4.8 km) |
Max. width | 1.5 miles (2.4 km) maximum |
Surface area | 2,110 acres (850 ha) |
Max. depth | 60 feet (18 m) |
Surface elevation | 581 feet (177 m) |
Settlements | Onekama; Portage Point; Wick-A-Te-Wah; Red Park; Williamsport |
Portage Lake is a natural lake, located in Onekama Township in Manistee County, Michigan, United States. The village of Onekama, Michigan is situated at the northeastern end of the lake.
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. [1]
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. [2]
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 (3.7 to 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.
This new man-made channel lowered the level of Portage Lake to that of Lake Michigan and dried out Portage Creek. As a result of this, the small community at Portage relocated to the previously submerged far northeastern corner of Portage Lake under its official new post office name, Onekama, in 1871. The man who had managed the Portage Mill, Augustine W. Farr became the key figure in establishing the town in its new location and in beginning to lobby for the designation of Portage Lake as a harbor of refuge. [1]
On the day following the opening of the channel in May 1871, the first vessel to enter Portage Lake from Lake Michigan was the tugboat Williams. In honor of this, the area on the south side at the Portage Lake was named Williamsport, Michigan, but due to the development of Onekama at the far end of the Portage Lake, Williamsport, Michigan never developed as had been originally hoped. [1]
In 1878, the United States Congress recognized the desire to survey the lake as a first step toward developing a harbor of refuge, as there was no safe harbor in a westerly gale in an 80-mile (130 km) stretch of coastline between Ludington, Michigan and South Manitou Island. Congress appropriated the first funds to develop the Portage Lake harbor of refuge in 1879 [3] and work continued on and off for decades.
The first light was established on the pier head in 1891. [4] In 1893, the channel had a depth of 8.5 feet (2.6 m) with north and south piers 500 feet (150 m) long with a red light on a 23-foot (7.0 m) high pole. [5] The first and only resident lighthouse keeper at Portage Lake Light was John Langland, who served from 1891 to 1917. [6] In 1899 River and Harbors Act provided for the first time to put harbor works under continuous contract. At that point, plans were laid to dredge the channel to a depth of 18 feet (5.5 m) and to extend the north and south piers. [7]
By 1914, steam ships of the Northern Michigan Transportation Company and the Pere Marquette Line regularly called at the Portage Point Inn, bringing passengers from Chicago and Milwaukee.
The first yacht club established on Portage Lake was the Onekama Sailing Club established in 1896 and which survived until about 1910. This club was located on an acre of land at the southeast end of Portage Lake. [8]
About 1936, the Portage Lake Yacht Club was established for small boat sailing on the Lake and was initially located at the Portage Point Inn. Organized by Murray Campbell, George Cartland, Walter Hardy, Lewis Hardy, Homer Hattendorf, John Heskett, Bill Smythe, the Tomlinsons, Leonard Vaughan, Warren Vaughan, and others, particularly their active sailing children.
The Club was incorporated in 1946 and a small club house was built on Portage Point near the Portage Lake end of the North pier at the end of Portage Point Drive. The Club has continued to award the Pabst Cup, which was originally donated by the Pabst Brewery to the Onekama Sailing Club. They also have weekly sunfish races. [9]
There are two known shipwrecks located inside Portage Lake: [10]
In 2008, Portage Lake has three facilities for yachtsmen:
The current chart of Portage Lake is NOAA Nautical Chart Great Lakes # 14939
Onekama is a village in Manistee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 399 at the 2020 census. The village is located on the northeast shore of Portage Lake and is surrounded by Onekama Township. The town's name is derived from Ona-ga-maa, an Anishinaabe word which means "singing water".
Onekama Township is a civil township of Manistee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,338 at the 2020 census.
Little Traverse Bay is a small open bay of Lake Michigan. Extending about 10 miles (16 km) into the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, much of the head of the land surrounding Little Traverse Bay, and has become part of the urban areas of Petoskey and Harbor Springs. Little Traverse Bay primarily lies within Emmet County, although a small portion lies within Charlevoix County.
The Washington Channel is a channel parallel to the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. It is located between the Southwest Waterfront on the east side and East Potomac Park on the west side. The channel is two miles (3.2 km) long, receives outflow from the Tidal Basin at its north end, and empties into the Anacostia River at Hains Point at its south end. The channel's depth ranges from 8.8 feet (2.7 m) to 23 feet (7.0 m).
Eagle Harbor Light is an operational lighthouse at Eagle Harbor, in Keweenaw County in the state of Michigan. It sits on the rocky entrance to Eagle Harbor and is one of several light stations that guide mariners on Lake Superior across the northern edge of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The original lighthouse, built in 1851, was replaced in 1871 by the present red brick structure, which is a Michigan State Historic Site and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
West End is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Lakeview District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Lake Pontchartrain to the north, the New Basin Canal and Pontchartrain Boulevard to the east, Veterans Boulevard to the south, and the 17th Street Canal to the west. The area was largely built on land reclaimed from Lake Pontchartrain. It is a commercial seafood and recreational boating hub for the city and has been known for its seafood restaurants. In recent years, the area has seen large condominium-complex developments built which overlook the Lake, marinas, and centrally located 30-acre (120,000 m2) West End Park.
The Rouse Simmons was a three-masted schooner famous for having sunk in a violent storm on Lake Michigan in 1912. The ship was bound for Chicago with a cargo of Christmas trees when it foundered off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, killing all on board.
The Mataafa Storm of 1905 was a storm that occurred on the Great Lakes on November 27–28, 1905. The system moved across the Great Basin with moderate depth on November 26 and November 27, then east-northeastward across the Great Lakes on November 28. Fresh east winds were forecast for the afternoon and evening of November 27, with storm warnings in effect by the morning of November 28. Storm-force winds and heavy snows accompanied the cyclone's passage. The storm, named after the steamship Mataafa, ended up destroying or damaging about 29 vessels, killing 36 seamen, and causing shipping losses of US$ 3.567 million on Lake Superior.
Norwalk Harbor is a recreational and commercial harbor and seaport at the estuary of the Norwalk River where it flows into Long Island Sound in Norwalk, Connecticut, United States.
Portage Point is an unincorporated summer resort area of Onekama Township, Manistee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It includes the site of the first town on Portage Lake at 44°21′43″N86°15′42″W It is located on the narrow strip of land between Portage Lake and Lake Michigan developed by the Portage Point Association. A post office operated in summers from August 1917 until September 1921.
Williamsport is a place name in Onekama Township, Manistee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located on the southwestern shore of Portage Lake at 44°21′30″N86°15′50″W. and had its beginning in about 1871 when a channel was dug connecting Portage Lake with Lake Michigan. The place name has been used on maps of Michigan since 1871 and throughout the 20th century, although no town ever developed.
Portage Point Inn Complex is a resort hotel located at the western end of Portage Lake at Portage Point, Michigan. In October 1985, this 1902 resort hotel and its associated buildings was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It operates today as the Portage Point Resort.
The Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge Inner and Outer Lights are a pair of lighthouses located on the west pier at the entry to Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge, in Grand Marais, Michigan. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.
The Navigation Structures at Pentwater Harbor are navigational structures located at the west end of Lowell Street in Pentwater, Michigan. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
The Navigation Structures at Frankfort Harbor are a collection of breakwaters, piers, and other structures in Lake Michigan located at the foot of Second Street in Frankfort, Michigan. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
The Navigation Structures at White Lake Harbor area set of piers protecting the channel connecting Lake Michigan and White Lake, located at the end of Lau Road near Whitehall, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
SS Selah Chamberlain was a wooden-hulled Great Lakes freighter that sank in Lake Michigan in 1886, 6 miles (10 km) off the coast of Sheboygan, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, United States after being rammed by the steamer John Pridgeon Jr. with the loss of five lives. On January 7, 2019, the wreck of Selah Chamberlain was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was given the reference number 100003288. She was the first shipwreck listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.
Thomas Friant was a wooden-hulled ferry that served on the Great Lakes from her construction in 1884 to her sinking in 1924. In January 1924, while gillnetting out of Two Harbors, Minnesota in Lake Superior, she was holed by ice, and sank with no fatalities. In 2004 her wreck was discovered in over 300 feet (91 m) of water in pristine condition. The wreck of Thomas Friant was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.
Gunilda was a steel-hulled Scottish-built steam yacht in service between her construction in 1897 and her sinking in Lake Superior in 1911. Built in 1897 in Leith, Scotland by Ramage & Ferguson for J. M. or A. R. & J. M. Sladen, and became owned by F. W. Sykes in 1898; her first and second owners were all from England. In 1901, Gunilda was chartered by a member of the New York Yacht Club, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean with a complement of 25 crewmen. In 1903, she was purchased by oil baron William L. Harkness of Cleveland, Ohio, a member of the New York Yacht Club; she ended up becoming the club's flagship. Under Harkness' ownership, Gunilda visited many parts of the world, including the Caribbean, and beginning in 1910, the Great Lakes.
Robert C. Pringle, originally named Chequamegon, was a wooden-hulled American tugboat that sank without loss of life on Lake Michigan, near Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on June 19, 1922, after striking an obstruction.