The Relation of the Flood Control Works of the Miami Conservancy District to Power Development

Abstract

The flood of March, 1913, was the greatest ever recorded in the Miami Valley, Ohio. Large sections of the business and residential district of Dayton and Hamilton were inundated to depths of 10 to 12 feet. At Dayton, the levees guarding the down-town district were overtopped by 6 feet or more, and the peak flow through the city exceeded the capacity of the river channel by nearly 300 per cent. Similar conditions existed in the other cities and towns in the valley. The property loss was estimated at $100,000,000. Immediately following the flood, relief committees were organized in the different cities, and plans for prevention of future floods began to be formulated. Each community worked independently at first, with the idea that each would work out its own salvation, the first thought in the mind of every one being that the desired results could be accomplished by channel enlargement. Soon after systematic engineering study was begun, however, two things became apparent; first, that channel enlargement alone, to the extent required, was not practicable; second -, that one city by itself could not adequately protect itself, and that it was a job for the whole valley to undertake as a unit. A combination of channel enlargement and retarding basins was the final solution of the problem. But there was no practical way, under the Ohio laws then existing, for the valley to organize as a unit and carry through a project such as this. It became necessary, therefore, to enact legislation to permit and protect such an organization. The Conservancy Act of Ohio, passed in 1914, paved the way for the organization of the Miami Conservancy District, which was effected soon thereafter. A map of the Miami Valley (fig. 1) shows three main branches of the river coming together at the City of Dayton. From west to