DCHP-1 Online
lightening place Obs. 
a shallow place where a boat or canoe had to be partly unloaded before it could proceed.
See also: décharge (def. 1)
- 1827 (1912) [We] then make the Upper Portage and a lightening place which hold us till about noon.
- 1852 Afterward we passed the lightening-place of the Rapid River, and encamped five or six miles further on, at half-past eight o'clock.
- 1827 (1912) [We] then make the Upper Portage and a lightening place which hold us till about noon.