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The Portland Arch

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Portland Arch is named for a natural bridge carved into the rock; a feature unique in our state. “The arch was created through the Mansfield Sandstone by Bear Creek, undercutting the bluff on both sides. The sandstone was strong enough that it did not collapse.” Dedicated as a State Nature Preserve in 1972, Portland Arch in Fountain County is beautiful with dramatic “sandstone gorge and the meandering creek that follows the well-worn path of the preserve”. Also found are an assemblage of natural communities and features including cliffs, forests, open prairies, spring-seep wetlands, and savannas that all offer an abundance of plants, wildflowers, and trees.

Images

Nature, Formation, Rock, Nature reserve

Nature reserve, Nature, Rock, Formation

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Portland Arch is named for a natural bridge carved into the rock; a feature unique in our state. “The arch was created through the Mansfield Sandstone by Bear Creek, undercutting the bluff on both sides. The sandstone was strong enough that it did not collapse.” Dedicated as a State Nature Preserve in 1972, Portland Arch in Fountain County is beautiful with dramatic “sandstone gorge and the meandering creek that follows the well-worn path of the preserve”. Also found are an assemblage of natural communities and features including cliffs, forests, open prairies, spring-seep wetlands, and savannas that all offer an abundance of plants, wildflowers, and trees. This is the only place in the state of Indiana where the Canada blueberry is found along with the rare bush honeysuckle. The canyon site that the Portland arch is placed on had been developed as a resort in the late 1800s, after the brief-lived Wabash and Erie Canal brought an economic boom to the region. It became a Boy Scout camp in the 1930s until accidents on the cliffs caused the Boy Scouts to close their camp. Since then, 253 acres was purchased by The Nature Conservancy in 1966 and later transferred to Indiana DNR. “It was expanded in 2002 by the Indiana Heritage Trust with the purchase of an additional 142 acres”. Overall, its conservation has allowed for many families both inside and outside of Indiana to enjoy a monumental landscape that has naturally preserved itself.

Sources

“Portland Arch Preserve.” The Nature Conservancy, www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-tohelp/places-we-protect/portland-arch-1/?tab_q=tab_container-tab_element.

Themer, Robert. (2013, November 11). Portland Arch -- a Hoosier natural wonder.

DailyJournal. https://www.daily-journal.com/sports/outdoors/portland-arch----a-hoosier-natural-wonder/article_06195125-4636-5dfc-a546-129151cb6907.html

Additional Information