Portage River (Kalamazoo/St. Joseph Counties) - History of River

History of River

The Portage River was an early trade route for the Pottawatomi, Ojibwa, Ottawa, and French traders. A pow-wow is held annually in Three Rivers to celebrate this history, along with a reenactor camp of French traders. A famous battle between the Pottawatomi and the Shawnee under Chief Elkhart took place on the banks of the Portage River in 1802, and is commemorated by a plaque in Three Rivers.

Portage Creek (the south-flowing Portage Creek, part of the Portage River drainage) drops 8 feet (2.4 m) at what is now the town of Vicksburg. In 1831 John Vickers spied this power source and built a gristmill on the creek, thereby flooding Sunset Lake and founding the town that would be named after him.

Dutch and Low German farmers with experience in wetlands horticulture took charge of the river region's wetlands during the decades after the American Civil War. The southern Kalamazoo region was one of the first locations in the United States where celery for salads was grown. (Traditional English and American popular cooking traditions of that time demanded that all vegetables be boiled or otherwise cooked before being served.) For several generations the Portage River area led the nation in celery production. Other specialty crops grown on Portage River "muckland" included peppermint and spearmint. On the Portage River's high sandy banks further south, strawberries were cultivated. The best known strawberry farm was R. M. Kellogg's in Three Rivers, founded in 1896. The R. M. Kellogg farms also maintained a popular tourist attraction, the Kellogg Gardens, elaborate gardens with many unusual structures, next to the Portage River in the city of Three Rivers.

Although the river today is used almost exclusively for recreation, up until the early 1900s it served as a corridor for transportation and commerce. Frank Dentler of Parkville operated a paddle wheel steamboat for the transportation of goods to the railroad lines, down river to Three Rivers and up river to the Portage Station near Portage Lake (St. Joseph County.)