Portage refers to the practice of carrying a canoe or other boat over land to avoid an obstacle on the water route (such as rapids or a waterfall in a river), or between two bodies of water (such as over an isthmus). A place where this carrying occurs's also called a portage, while a person doing the carrying's called a porter. Over time, depending on the importance of the portages, they were sometimes upgraded to canals with locks, and even portage railways. Portaging generally required unloa… (More on Portage)