on a waterway, a place where both canoe (or other vessel) and cargo are carried from one lake or river to another or around rapids, falls, or other obstructions.
1760  From the church of the Cedar Hills across the point . . . there is a carrying place of about six or seven miles.
1954  He had persuaded . . . his . . . men to paddle and portage kegs of rum and bales of trade goods over all the rough water and carrying-places from Montreal three thousand miles away.