Ojibwa Portaging Around the Falls of St. Anthony

George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872 · 1835-1836

"The [Ojibwe/Chippewa] . . . were swiftly propelled by paddles to the Fall of St. Anthony, where we had repaired to witness their mode of passing the cataract, by 'making (as it is called) the portage,' which we found to be a very curious scene; and was done by running all their canoes into an eddy below the Fall, and as near as they could get by paddling; when all were landed, and every thing taken out of the canoes, and with them carried by the women, around the Fall, and half a mile or so above, where the canoes were put into the water again; and goods and chattels being loaded in, and all hands seated, the paddles were again put to work, and the light and bounding crafts upon their voyage." George Catlin sketched this scene at the Falls of St. Anthony in 1835. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 51, 1841; reprint 1973)