PORTAGE, Wis. (AP) -- Ten-year-old Jazmine Peters escaped drowning in the historic Portage Canal by the hair on her head.

Cousin Jeff Gjavenis, also 10, grabbed Jazmine's thick ponytail to keep her head above water after she slid off the Ice Age Trail and into the canal Sunday night.

The accident scene is well known to the family members. Jazmine's mother Terri Reilley grew up with a sister and cousin on the Old Indian Agency House land where her parents have been resident caretakers for decades. The site is where travelers centuries ago portaged canoes between the Wisconsin and Fox rivers and where the canal eventually was built.

Jazmine, Jeff and three other cousins had gone for a walk and went across a bridge to the other side of the canal.

That's when Jazmine fell in and her cousins came to the rescue, Jeff holding her head above water with her ponytail and Taylor Weirich pulling her with the strap on her snow pants.

Jazmine wound up in the Divine Savior Healthcare emergency room.

She took the day off Monday at John Muir Elementary School, so her mother could watch for any signs of pneumonia. The family credits Jeff and Taylor for saving her life.