The mouth of Portage Creek served as a gateway to the portage around the rapids and waterfalls to the Missouri River. Undeterred by the obstacles, the men labored to begin the arduous portage. At Lower Portage Camp, the men stashed the white pirogue and cached supplies. This campsite was just one mile downriver from the mouth of Portage (Belt) Creek, around the bluff, out of view, and on private land today. The men dragged canoes two miles up the creek to where a favorable slope allowed easier access to the prairie. The canoes and baggage were then loaded on hand-built carts for the overland passage on the plain. Rapids prevented the explorers from advancing their dugouts beyond this point, five miles short of the the Great Falls, the first of five cascades. A single cottonwood tree felled at the mouth of this creek yielded 22' diameter wheels for two two carts.