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Portage la Prairie is a small city in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba, Canada. As of 2011, the population was 12,996 and the land area of the city was .〔(Portage la Prairie, CY Manitoba (Census subdivision) )〕 Portage la Prairie is located approximately west of Winnipeg, along the Trans-Canada Highway (located exactly between the provincial boundaries of Saskatchewan and Ontario), and sits on the Assiniboine River, which flooded the town persistently until a diversion channel north to Lake Manitoba (the Portage Diversion) was built to divert the flood waters. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie. According to Environment Canada, Portage la Prairie has the most sunny days during the warm months in Canada. It is the administrative headquarters of the Dakota Tipi First Nations reserve. ==History== The area was most likely inhabited by Aboriginals, or First Nations, before European settlers began to arrive prior to 1850. In September of 1738, after the fur trade had extended into Western Canada. Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye (a French Canadian explorer and fur trader) built Fort La Reine north of the Assiniboine River to serve as a fur trading post, and provide the explorers with a "home" operating base, from which they would explore other parts of central Manitoba and western North America. In 1851, Archdeacon William Cochrane (Cockran)〔(Memorable Manitobans: William Cockran [William Cochrane] (1798-1865) )〕 of the Anglican Church, John McLean,〔(Memorable Manitobans: John McLean (1815-1902) )〕 as well as other ambitious settlers, were among the first to purchase the first land in the area from the local Aboriginals, around what is now Crescent Lake (formerly known as "The Slough"). A school was soon built as settlers poured in from the east, followed by a church (St. Mary's La Prairie, 1854), and numerous local businesses as the community began to form. The fertile soils of the Portage la Prairie area were discovered in the 1850s, giving birth to the future agriculturally based economy of the village; Archdeacon Cochrane encouraged people to start growing crops and gardens on their properties to fulfill the needs of the growing food demand. A local government was formed in 1857, and by the 1860s, there were sixty homes situated in the community. The 1870s was a decade of rapid growth, as many more settlers moved to Portage, establishing farms and opening new businesses. By this time, the village had an operating flour mill, a local newspaper, and a community fair; just to name a few of Portage's highlights. From the 1870s to the 1880s, the community increased in population by approximately 10 times (300-3,000). Freight and supplies were transported by ox-cart and steamboat until the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1881, the year Portage was incorporated as a town. Thomas Collins was the first mayor of Portage la Prairie. In 1907, Portage was incorporated as a city, and from that point on, managed to keep a gradual rate of growth and development, serving as a regional hub for agriculture, retail, manufacturing and transportation in central Manitoba. During WWII, the Royal Canadian Air Force constructed Canadian Forces Base Portage la Prairie in support of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The station was controlled by the RCAF but used naval personnel as high-frequency direction finding operators. The station's priority was German U-boat traffic. This site and CFB Rivers located at Rivers, Manitoba helped to increase the fix accuracy immensely. The name is derived from the French word ''portage'', which means to carry a canoe overland between waterways. In this case the "portage" was between the Assiniboine River and Lake Manitoba, over ''la prairie''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Portage la Prairie」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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