Photo Friday #015: Vintage-Like Portage Canal

The Portage Canal is somewhere I’ve driven past hundreds of times in my life, but never have I seen it like this. This snow falling in the photo gives it a second effect of it being a grainy photo, adding that to the tone gives it a fantastic vintage look as if this photo was taken in the early 1900s. However, it was snapped just two weeks prior on May 3rd, 2008.

“Although beautiful, I couldn’t believe it was snowing at the beginning of May.”

– DailyInvention on Flickr

A Brief History of the Portage Canal

• The only road across the Portage Canal is the Portage Lift Bridge
• Also known as the Keweenaw Waterway, Lily Pond, Portage River, and Portage Lake
• Connects Lake Superior at both North and South entries (see map below)
• The primary tributary to Portage Lake is the Sturgeon River
• Originally a small river, it was dredged in the 1960s for mining industry and allowing freighters in
• The area north of the Portage Canal is known as Copper Island

Photo courtesy of DailyInvention on Flickr.