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 1915 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
Great Dayton Flood
Great Dayton Flood
Miami Conservancy District