Oneida Carry

Oneida Carry
Portage
Map Depicting the Siege of Fort Stanwix and the Oneida Carry
Nickname(s): Deo-Wain-Sta or "The Great Carrying Place"
Oneida Carry Location within the state of New York
Coordinates: 43°13′N 75°28′W / 43.217°N 75.467°W / 43.217; -75.467
Country	United States
State	New York
County	Oneida
City	City of Rome
Elevation	456 ft (139 m)

The Oneida Carry was an important link in the main 18th century trade route between the Atlantic seaboard of North America and interior of the continent. From Schenectady, near Albany, New York on the Hudson River, cargo would be carried upstream along the Mohawk River using boats known as bateaux. At the location at modern-day Rome, New York, the cargo and boats would be portaged one to four miles overland to Wood Creek. This portage was known as the Oneida Carry or as The Great Carrying Place. After relaunching into Wood Creek, the bateaux would navigate downstream to Oneida Lake, the Oswego River, and ultimately Lake Ontario at Oswego. Lake Ontario was the gateway to all the Great Lakes stretching another thousand miles inland.

The only other significant waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the continental interior was the Saint Lawrence River, which flows northeast out of Lake Ontario to Montreal and Quebec City. Thus for nearly a hundred years movement of military goods, trade goods, and other supplies into and out of the continental interior required control over the Oneida Carry. The Carry was strategically important in the colonial wars between Great Britain and France, in the American Revolution, and in the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States, and the City of Rome, New York was founded there in 1796. Its military importance declined with the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, after which it became just one of many "ports".

Interest in improving transportation across the Oneida Carry began as early as 1702 when native Americans petitioned Governor Cornbury to have improvements made to allow easier passage of boats. As at this time the Oneida Carry was nothing more than a path between the two bodies of water. Although important to trade it wasn't until the beginning of the French and Indian War that the Oneida Carry was finally improved with fortifications, supplies, and dams.