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The Portage River branches run northeast from Wood County & north from Hancock County to Pemberville in eastern Wood County, where it becomes one river, then into Sandusky County, and meanders across Ottawa County through Elmore & Oak Harbor before it empties into Lake Erie at what is now Port Clinton. It most likely derives its name from early explorers who were forced to portage or carry their canoes and boats around the river's intermittent shallows and rapids. It is approximately 41.5 miles (66.8 km) in length. [1]
Native Americans were the first to use the river as a food source and for transportation. In 1782, a trader wrote to a merchant in Detroit, "it is expected there will be two French traders at or near Little Island or the Portash [sic] River."
In 1850 the Ohio legislature passed the first of several laws mandating the draining of the Great Black Swamp into the Portage and Maumee rivers. This led to the creation of many of the tributaries, streams, and ditches feeding the Portage River.
Drainage system changes have caused the Portage River to shift the location of its mouth at least twice in the past three hundred years. Maps recorded in 1754 show the mouth near the present location of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. Prior to that, the river emptied into Lake Erie near West Harbor.
Despite its shallow depth, the river is relatively clean, reaching 76 percent of Ohio EPA standards. Environmental concerns include nonpoint pollution sources, inappropriate land use, and sewage discharge. Due to PCB contamination, the Ohio EPA recommends no more than one meal per month of channel catfish and common carp caught in the Portage River.
Port Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Ottawa County, located at the mouth of the Portage River on Lake Erie, about 44 miles east of Toledo. The population was 6,056 at the 2010 census.
The Maumee River is a river running in the United States Midwest from northeastern Indiana into northwestern Ohio and Lake Erie. It is formed at the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers, where Fort Wayne, Indiana, has developed, and meanders northeastwardly for 137 miles (220 km) through an agricultural region of glacial moraines before flowing into the Maumee Bay of Lake Erie. The city of Toledo is located at the mouth of the Maumee. The Maumee was designated an Ohio State Scenic River on July 18, 1974. The Maumee watershed is Ohio’s breadbasket; it is two-thirds farmland, mostly corn and soybeans. It is the largest watershed of any of the rivers feeding the Great Lakes, and supplies five percent of Lake Erie’s water.
The Kalamazoo River is a river in the U.S. state of Michigan. The river is 130 miles (210 km) long from the junction of its North and South branches to its mouth at Lake Michigan, with a total length extending to 178 miles (286 km) when one includes the South Branch. The river's watershed drains an area of approximately 2,020 square miles (5,200 km2) and drains portions of eight counties in southwest Michigan: Allegan, Barry, Eaton, Van Buren, Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Jackson, Hillsdale, Kent and Ottawa. The river has a median flow of 1,863 cubic feet per second (52.8 m3/s) at New Richmond, upstream from its mouth at Saugatuck.
The Huron River is a 14.9-mile-long (24.0 km) waterway in the north central Ohio in the United States. The watershed drains large portions of Erie County and Huron County, the northeast corners of Seneca County and Crawford County, and northern portions of Richland County.
Fort Sandusky refers to at least three separate military forts that were built by French and English forces at three different sites in the area of Sandusky Bay and the Sandusky River in northern Ohio. They were the French Fort Sandoske, the British Fort Sandusky (1761), and the American Fort Sandusky.
The Vermilion River is a river in northern Ohio in the United States. It is 66.9 miles (107.7 km) long and is a tributary of Lake Erie, draining an area of 268 square miles (690 km2). The name alludes to the reddish clay that is the predominant local soil along its route. The river is commonly muddy after rains.
The Black River is a tributary of Lake Erie, about 12 mi (19 km) long, in northern Ohio in the United States. Via Lake Erie, the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, it is part of the watershed of the St. Lawrence River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean. The Black drains an area of 470 mi² (1217 km²).
Portage River is a 38.6-mile-long (62.1 km) river that flows southward through Kalamazoo County and St. Joseph County, Michigan. Its headwaters are 8 miles (13 km) east of the city of Kalamazoo at Portage Lake, and the river flows southwest to its mouth within the city limits of Three Rivers, where it drains into the St. Joseph River.
Catawba Island Township is one of the twelve townships of Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 3,157 people in the township.
Danbury Township is one of the twelve townships of Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 4,631 people in the township, 3,869 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.
Portage Township is one of the twelve townships of Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,634 people in the unincorporated portions of the township.
Salem Township is one of the twelve townships of Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 5,517 people in the township, 2,676 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.
Sandusky Bay is a bay on Lake Erie in northern Ohio, formed at the mouth of the Sandusky River. It was identified as Lac Sandouské on a 1718 French map, with early variations recorded that suggest the name was derived from Native American languages. The Thomas A. Edison Memorial Bridge was constructed across it in the 20th century to connect highways in Erie and Ottawa counties.
The Toledo, Ohio, metropolitan area is a metropolitan area centered on the American city of Toledo, Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) had a population of 651,429. It is the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the state of Ohio, behind Cincinnati–Northern Kentucky, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Akron.
The geography of New York state varies widely. Most of New York is dominated by farms, forests, rivers, mountains, and lakes. New York's Adirondack Park is larger than any U.S. National Park in the contiguous United States. Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River as it flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, is a popular attraction. The Hudson River begins near Lake Tear of the Clouds and flows south through the eastern part of the state without draining lakes George or Champlain. Lake George empties at its north end into Lake Champlain, whose northern end extends into Canada, where it drains into the Richelieu River and then the St. Lawrence. Four of New York City's five boroughs are on the three islands at the mouth of the Hudson River: Manhattan Island, Staten Island, and Brooklyn and Queens on Long Island.
Lake Erie Basin consists of Lake Erie and surrounding watersheds, which are typically named after the river, creek, or stream that provides drainage into the lake. The watersheds are located in the states of Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in the United States, and in the province of Ontario in Canada. The basin is part of the Great Lakes Basin and Saint Lawrence River Watershed, which feeds into the Atlantic Ocean. 80% of the lake's water flows in from the Detroit River, with only 9% coming from all of the remaining watersheds combined. A littoral zone serves as the interface between land and lake, being that portion of the basin where the lake is less than 15 feet (4.6 m) in depth.
State Route 358 (SR 358) is a 0.92-mile-long (1.48 km) north–south state highway in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. The southern terminus of SR 358 is at a T-intersection with SR 163 nearly 5.75 miles (9.25 km) east of Oak Harbor, just north of the Portage River. Its northern terminus is at SR 2 at an intersection just outside Camp Perry about three and a half miles (5.6 km) west of Port Clinton.
The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. It consists of routes for circumnavigating the lakes, either individually or collectively.
Ottawa County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,428. Its county seat is Port Clinton. The county is named either for the Ottawa Indians who lived there, or for an Indian word meaning "trader".