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AMERICAN PORTAGES

of the seasons. In the last summer months, when rains are not infrequent, it is usually six or eight miles across. Taking water again, we enter a narrow rivulet, called the Wood-creek, which leads into the Oneida Lake, distant forty miles. This stream, tho' favorable, being shallow, and its banks covered with thick woods, was at this time much obstructed with old logs and fallen trees. The Oneida Lake stretches from east to west about thirty miles, and in calm weather is passed with great facility. At its western extremity opens the Onondaga River, leading down to Oswego, situated at its entrance on the south side of the Lake Ontario. Extremely difficult and hazardous is the passage thro' this river, as it abounds with rifts and rocks; and the current flowing with surprising rapidity. The principal obstruction is twelve miles short of Oswego, and is a fall of about eleven feet perpendicular. The portage here is by land, not exceeding forty yards, before they launch for the last time."[1]

Far-famed Fort Stanwix arose near the

  1. A Review of the Military Operations in North America (London, 1757), pp. 42–43.