 The pier was widely known and used not only for loading sailing ships with lumber cut at the mill, but also by sidewheel and propeller steam-powered vessels that stopped to refuel with wood or to pick up or deliver passengers and freight for the surrounding area.The United States Government established Post Office at the Mill on 8 May 1871, but the Post Office Department required the name "O-nek-a-ma" for addresses in the area around Portage Lake, although the little village and mill retained the name "Portage".Meanwhile, the farmers operating their homestead lands around the shore of the lake were becoming increasingly exasperated by the Portage Mill operators.