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Portage Canal, 1935

A view of the Portage Canal and lock. The Indian Agency House in the center background. The canal was dug in finally 1849 as part of the Fox-Wisconsin waterway project. View the original source document: WHI 42996

In 1834, the federal government opened land offices in Mineral Point and Green Bay to aid the settlement of Wisconsin. The increase in the number of settlements added to the existing demand for improvements in transportation. Steamboats on the Mississippi River connected Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico. Immigrants and goods from the East came into the territory on steamships on the Great Lakes. Wisconsin residents sought a way to connect these two great waterways. Many residents were inspired by the success of the Erie Canal, opened in 1825, and wanted the same for Wisconsin.

Lobbying Congress

Shipping and receiving agricultural products and others goods were highly lucrative to Wisconsin's settlers, businessmen and promoters. Lakeshores, docks, piers and harbors in Wisconsin at the time were severely underdeveloped. Lakeshores were improved, but harbors weren't. Towns on the lakeshore were able to receive many immigrants. Wisconsin's harbors and docks were intended for ships to unload goods for commercial use. But cargo ships carrying merchandise and supplies were so displeased by the appearance and condition of Wisconsin's docks, piers and harbors that they often refused to make deliveries. They passed by and unloaded in Chicago instead. The citizens of Racine, Milwaukee, Kenosha and other towns lobbied Congress for money to build better harbors, but their requests went unanswered.

Fox River Canal

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Milwaukee Harbor, 1940

Aerial view of city, river and harbor. Two smokestacks are on either side of the river mouth. In the 19th century, Milwaukee's harbors and docks were in such disrepair that boats refused to unload and sailed on to Chicago instead. View the original source document: WHI 53385

Products from Wisconsin reached eastern markets by the Mississippi. It was a long route that often suffered from low water. Wisconsin producers hoped to reduce the time and cost of transport to send goods east. A group from Green Bay proposed constructing a portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers for transport. An 1839 federal survey estimated that the cost of constructing the portage would be over half a million dollars. Congress eventually granted land along the river to the Fox River Improvement Company to sell and raise money for the canal. Work progressed slowly. When it was finally finished, the route was too long and winding to be useful. 

No Support

In 1838, Milwaukee's Byron Kilbourne wanted to construct a canal from the lead region to Milwaukee's harbor. The canal never got farther than a few docks on the Milwaukee River, however. The legislature withdrew support from the Milwaukee and Rock River Canal Company in 1841. Harbor improvements and canal construction projects were so limited by financial constraints that the project was never completed. Although no canal was ever constructed to link the two great waters, steamboats on the Mississippi River and Great Lakes continued to bring settlers and goods to Wisconsin for years.

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[Sources: The History of Wisconsin vol. 2 and 3 (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin); Nesbit, Robert C. Wisconsin: A History. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1973); Wisconsin's Martime Trails; Kasparek, Jon, Bobbie Malone and Erica Schock. Wisconsin History Highlights: Delving into the Past (Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2004)]