"The name of this town, the French word for "carry", was borrowed from the lake which occupies a large portion of the center of the town. The 'portage' is between tis sheet of water and Machias Lake. Portage was organized as a plantation in 1872 and incorporated as a town in 1909.
"The first settler was Matthew Stevens who came in the year 1844. He was soon followed by Nat Blake, Isaac Stevenson, Joseph Sylvester, John Rollins, Timothy Oakes, William Winchell and David Dow. These settlers were lumbermen from Canada looking for pine.
"Four years after the settlement was made in 1848 the first child, Albion Stevens, was born." (Chadbourne, p.117)