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ONEKAMA HISTORY

Portage Lake and Lake Michigan weren't always connected by a channel - it was a man-made accident that made the channel as we know it today. How did it happen? Well, that is a story...

Once the small Portage Creek drained Portage Lake. An enterprising mill owner, Mr. Stronach, placed a dam on this creek to help his lumber mill operation. Future mill owners would periodically raise the water level on the lake and flood the property of early homesteaders along the shores.

Since these homesteaders were improving their land, they weren't very happy when lake levels were raised. Push came to shove and by 1871, a small ditch was dug to prevent the water level from being artificially raised.

Well, when the water finally let loose through the ditch, you can imagine what happened. Portage Lake dropped almost 14 ft and the small "ditch" became 500 ft. wide and 12 ft deep...

LEARN MORE in the "The Story of Portage" (hardcopy available in Onekama area stores)


   
   
           
PORTAGE POINT INN

The original building was constructed in 1902 and opened as a summer retreat in 1903. The resort was the vacation dream of many elite city dwellers from Chicago, Milwaukee and beyond, wanting to escape the pressures of city life.

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  Portage Point Inn, Onekama, MI
 
           

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Album of Onekama Township Heritage by Tom
Gearhardt



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Onekama Schools Wellsprings Project

2001
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Flowing Wells...
1906
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