| Great Miami River | |
|---|---|
 The Great Miami River nearVandalia | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Ohio,Indiana |
| Counties | Logan,Shelby,Miami,Montgomery,Warren,Butler,Hamilton in Ohio;Dearborn in Indiana |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Indian Lake,Russells Point,Logan County,Ohio |
| • coordinates | 40°28′04″N83°52′33″W / 40.46778°N 83.87583°W /40.46778; -83.87583 (Great Miami River source)[1] |
| • elevation | 998 ft (304 m) |
| Mouth | |
• location | Ohio River,Miami Township,Hamilton County,Ohio |
• coordinates | 39°06′31″N84°48′52″W / 39.10861°N 84.81444°W /39.10861; -84.81444 (Great Miami River mouth)[1] |
• elevation | 449 feet (137 m)[1] |
| Length | 170 mi (270 km) |
| Basin size | 5,373 sq mi (13,920 km2) |
| Discharge | |
| • average | 5,368 cu ft/s (152.0 m3/s) |
TheGreat Miami River (also called theMiami River) (Shawnee:Msimiyamithiipi[2]) is a tributary of theOhio River, approximately 160 miles (260 km) long,[3] in southwesternOhio andIndiana in theUnited States. The Great Miami originates at the man-made Indian Lake and flows south through the cities ofSidney,Piqua,Troy,Dayton,Middletown andHamilton.
The river is named for theMiami, anAlgonquian-speakingNative American people who lived in the region during the early days of European settlement.[4] They were forced to relocate to the west to escape pressure from European-American settlers.
The region surrounding the Great Miami River is known as theMiami Valley. This term is used in the upper portions of the valley as a moniker for the economic-cultural region centered primarily on theGreater Dayton area. As the lower portions of the Miami Valley fall under the influence ofCincinnati and the Ohio River Valley, residents of the lower area do not identify with the Miami in the same way.
The main course of the Great Miami River rises from the outflow ofIndian Lake inLogan County, about 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast of the village ofRussells Point, approximately 15 miles (24 km) southeast ofLima. Indian Lake is an artificialreservoir which receives the flow from the North and South forks of the Great Miami River. It flows south and southwest, pastSidney, and is joined byLoramie Creek in northernMiami County. It flows south pastPiqua andTroy, and throughTaylorsville Dam inHuber Heights andVandalia. It continues throughDayton, where it is joined by theStillwater and theMad rivers andWolf Creek.[1]
From Dayton it flows southwest pastMiamisburg,Franklin,Middletown andHamilton in the southwest corner of Ohio. In southwesternHamilton County, it is joined by theWhitewater River approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) upstream from its mouth on theOhio River, just east of theOhio-Indiana state line, approximately 16 miles (26 km) west ofCincinnati. The river meanders across the state line nearLawrenceburg, Indiana in the last two miles (3 km) before reaching its mouth approximately ¼ mile east of the border in Ohio.
The border ofOhio andIndiana was based on where the confluence of the Ohio and Great Miami Rivers was in 1800.[5]
Download coordinates as:
In the 1700s, the French called the riverRiviere à la Roche ("River of the Rocks").[6] This name was directly taken from theMyaamia language (Miami-Illinois) of theMiami Nation that lived in the area (ahseni siipiiwi, meaningRock River[7]).
TheMiami and Erie Canal, which connected the Ohio River withLake Erie, was built through the Great Miami watershed. The first portion of the canal, fromCincinnati toMiddletown, was operational in 1828, and extended toDayton in 1830.[8] Water from the Great Miami fed into the canal.[9] A later extension to the canal, the Sidney Feeder, drew water from the upper reaches of the Great Miami from nearPort Jefferson andSidney. The canal served as the principal north–south route of transportation from Toledo to Cincinnati for western Ohio until being supplanted in the 1850s by railroads.
As was common in early industrial days, beginning in the 19th century the river served as a source of water and a method to dispose of wastes for a variety of major industrial firms, includingArmco Steel,Champion International Paper,Black Clawson,Fernald and many others. Heightened attention to water pollution in the late 1950s and 1960s has led to significant improvements in waste disposal and water quality.
Following a catastrophicflood in March 1913, theMiami Conservancy District was established in 1914 to builddams,levees and storage areas as well asdredge and straighten channels to control flooding of the river.
TheGreat Miami River has also been known as:[1]
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river of the rocks miami roche.
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