Fountain is an unincorporated town in Shawnee Township

Shawnee Township, Fountain County, Indiana

Shawnee Township is one of eleven townships in Fountain County, Indiana, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 616.-Geography:Shawnee Township covers an area of ; of this is water. It contains no incorporated settlements. The unincorporated communities of Aylesworth and Rob Roy both...

, Fountain County

Fountain County, Indiana

Fountain County lies in the western part of the U.S. state of Indiana on the east side of the Wabash River. The county was officially established in 1826 and was the 53rd in Indiana. The county seat is Covington....

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The Wabash and Erie Canal

Wabash and Erie Canal

The Wabash and Erie Canal was a shipping canal that linked the Great Lakes to the Ohio River via an artificial waterway. The canal provided traders with access from the Great Lakes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico...

 used to pass through the community.

History

Portland was laid out in April 1828 by surveyor William Miller, Barnard Preble and Major Whitlocke. Keep's store, an early trading point at Portland, supplied goods to people along a lengthy stretch of the Wabash River. Sandford C. Cox in Personal Recollections of Early Settlements writes that "powder, lead, salt, iron, whiskey and leather were the staples of the trade in those days, and were exchanged for the productions of the country, such as beeswax, tallow, feathers, ginseng, furs, deer-skins, wild hops, etc." Portland grew to include 11 stores, a hotel, six physicians, various craftsmen and a "considerable population."

Geography

Fountain is located at 40°13′23"N 87°20′07"W on the southeastern banks of the Wabash River

Wabash River

The Wabash River is a river in the Midwestern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery across northern Indiana to southern Illinois, where it forms the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River, of which it is the largest northern tributary...

, at an elevation of approximately 560 feet. To the south is Bear Creek, which joins the Wabash on the western edge of town, and the wooded Portland Arch Nature Preserve

Portland Arch Nature Preserve

Portland Arch Nature Preserve is a nature preserve near the Wabash River in Fountain County, Indiana, and is a National Natural Landmark. The preserve encompasses the wooded valleys, ravines and rocky cliffs around the lowest section of Bear Creek, which flows northwest toward the Wabash...

.