Portage is a city in Columbia County, Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat Columbia County. As of the 2010 census, 10,662 people lived in Portage.. It is the largest city in Columbia County. The city is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Portage was named for the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway. It is a portage between the Fox River and the Wisconsin River. It was found by Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet during their discovery of a route to the Mississippi River in 1673. The slogan of the city is "Where the North Begins."
Portage is the largest city outside of Dane County in the Madison Metropolitan Area.