Fountain is an unincorporated community in Shawnee Township, Fountain County, Indiana, United States. The Wabash and Erie Canal formerly passed through the community. 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 l…Fountain is an unincorporated community in Shawnee Township, Fountain County, Indiana, United States. The Wabash and Erie Canal formerly passed through the community. 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."
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