Miami Conservancy District

The Miami Conservancy District is a river management agency operating in Southwest Ohio to control flooding of the Great Miami River and its tributaries. It was organized in 1914 following the catastrophic Great Dayton Flood of the Great Miami River in March 1913, which hit Dayton, Ohio particularly hard. Designed by Arthur Ernest Morgan, the Miami Conservancy District built levees, straightened the river channel throughout the Miami Valley, and built five dry dams on various tributaries to control flooding. The district and its projects are unusual in that they were funded almost entirely by local tax initiatives, unlike similar projects elsewhere which were funded by the federal government and coordinated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Historical perspective

The 1913 flood has been ascribed in part to the 1912 eruption of Mount Katmai and its daughter volcano Novarupta in Alaska. In one of the greatest recorded volcanic events, Novarupta emitted enough fine ash into the atmospheric to block sunlight and cool the climate of the Northern Hemisphere that winter.

The success of the Miami Conservancy District helped to inspire the development of the much larger Tennessee Valley Authority during the Great Depression.

Dams

The district manages five dry dams. They are hydraulic fill dams constructed from 1919 to 1921 using fill trestles.

Englewood Dam

Located near Englewood, Ohio, Englewood dam is the largest of the dams maintained by the district. It regulates the flow of the Stillwater River into the Great Miami River. It consists of 3,500,000 cubic yards (2,700,000 m³) of earth, is 110 feet (34 m) high and stretches 4,716 feet (1,437 m). U.S. Route 40 crosses the top of the dam. The dam can contain 209,000 acre feet (258,000,000 m³) of flood water over 6,350 acres (26 km²). It was constructed in 1919 and consists of as much earth as the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Germantown Dam

Located near Germantown, Ohio, Germantown Dam regulates the flow of Twin Creek into the Great Miami River. It consists of 865,000 cubic yards (661,000 m³) of earth, is 100 feet (30 m) high and 1,210 feet (370 m) wide. The dam can contain 73,000 acre feet (90,000,000 m³) of flood water over 2,950 acres (11.9 km²) (12 km²). It was constructed in 1920.

Huffman Dam

Located near Fairborn, Ohio, Huffman Dam regulates the flow of the Mad River into the Great Miami River. It consists of 1,665,000 cubic yards (1,273,000 m³) of earth, is 65 feet (20 m) high and spans 3,340 feet (1,020 m). The dam can contain 124,000 acre feet (153,000,000 m³) of flood water over 7,300 acres (30 km²).

Lockington Dam

Located north of Piqua, Ohio outside the village of Lockington, Ohio, Lockington dam regulates the flow of Loramie Creek into the Great Miami River. It consists of 1,135,000 cubic yards (868,000 m³) of earth, is 69 feet (21 m) high and spans 6,400 feet (2,000 m). The dam can contain 63,000 acre feet (78,000,000 m³) of flood water over 3,600 acres (15 km²) (15 km²). It was constructed in 1919.

Taylorsville Dam

Located near Vandalia, Ohio, Taylorsville Dam regulates the Great Miami River. It consists of 1,235,000 cubic yards (944,000 m³) of earth, is 67 feet (20 m) high and spans 2,980 feet (910 m). When full, the dam would inundate 9,650 acres (39.1 km²) (39 km²). It was constructed in 1919.

Recreation

The Miami Conservancy District builds and plans a system of bikeways along the Miami corridor. Currently, bike trails follow the Great Miami River much of the way through Montgomery and Warren Counties. The current northern trail terminus is Taylorsville MetroPark, between Vandalia and Huber Heights. Construction is planned in the near future to extend the trail north through Miami County to Tipp City, Troy, and Piqua.

External links

• Miami Conservancy District Homepage
• The Miami Valley and the 1913 Flood, State of Ohio, Miami Conservancy District, Arthur E. Morgan, Chief Engineer, Technical Reports Part I, 1917