relief in the dayton flo od of 1913 49It is quite obvious .docx

relief in the dayton flo od of 1913 49
It is quite obvious that contemporary events shape the writing
of history.
By viewing their own times, historians ask new questions about
the past.
The hurricane that hit the Mississippi-Alabama Gulf Coast in
August 2005,
dubbed Katrina, is turning out be such an event. Scholars have
pointed out
the devastation wrought by the storm, the slowness in
rebuilding New Or-
leans, and the failings of government. Approximately 1,800
people lost their
lives. Systemic relief efforts were few and far between, and the
recovery of
the city moves at a slow pace. Why did this happen the way it
did? Certainly
part of the answer lies in the history of the place where it
happened, namely
the Gulf Coast. Other answers are political, social, and
economic.
In searching for some answers, it may be useful to reinvestigate
the
floods that covered the state of Ohio at the end of March 1913—
particu-
larly the most devastated location, the city of Dayton.
Approximately 360
people perished in the Dayton flood. Yet in just a few months’
time the city
was returning to normalcy, and by 1922 the Miami Conservancy
District

was established to prevent future floods from repeating the
episode of 1913.
In light of Katrina, the relief and recovery efforts in the Dayton
flood of
1913 seem all the more remarkable. Evaluating the events
surrounding the
Dayton flood provides an instructive case study in the history of
relief and
recovery from natural disasters.
Ohio History, Vol. 118 © 2011 by The Kent State University
Press
The National Cash Register Company
and the Neighborhoods
New Perspectives on Relief in the Dayton
Flood of 1913
p e t e r s . c a j k a
The author wishes to thank Professors Larry Schweikart and
John Heitmann at the University
of Dayton for their support.
50 ohio history volume 118
1. Tom Dunham, Dayton in the Twentieth Century
(Bloomington, Ind.: Arthur House,
2005), 2.
2. William E. Smith, History of Southwestern Ohio: The Miami
Valleys (New York: Lewis
Historical, 1964), 257.
3. Dunham, Dayton in the Twentieth Century, 2.

4. Ibid., 49.
5. Ibid.
Coming as it did in March 1913, the flood hit Dayton at a
specific mo-
ment in the city’s history. Therefore, a brief examination of
conditions in
Dayton before the flood is necessary. The city, as one historian
put it, “is
at the mercy of the swollen Miami River.”1 Dayton experienced
significant
floods in 1814, 1828, 1847, 1866, 1883, 1896, and 1898. After
the flood in 1898,
Daytonians responded by constructing levies on both sides of
the Miami.
But their efforts were insufficient in protecting downtown
Dayton. Yet, be-
ing adjacent to rivers had its advantages. In the early and mid-
nineteenth
century, waterways were economically valuable to cities in
America’s mid-
western heartland. The Miami Canal “provided Dayton with
cheap trans-
portation, water power, and connections with the outside
world.”2 In spite
of periodic flooding, and because of the city’s position along
the water, Day-
ton’s population grew from 10,977 in 1850 to 85,333 by 1900.3
Prior to the turn of the century, Dayton underwent an economic
shift
away from agriculture toward industry. With machinery
replacing human
labor and a factory boom from steam and gas power, Dayton, in
a region of
the country that led in industry, science, and invention, stepped
early into

the industrial age. It witnessed the growth of corporations with
its adjunct
of salaried managers. Chief among them was the National Cash
Register
Company (NCR), founded in 1884 by John H. Patterson. Others
included
the Barney and Smith Company, Davis Sewing Machine
Company, Dayton
Power and Light Company, Speedwell Motor Car Company, and
Dayton
Engineer Laboratories Company.
The growing wealth of the city could be seen in the urban
consumer
culture that was well established in Dayton by 1900. The
generous selection
of goods offered by department stores made the downtown a
growing des-
tination for shoppers. The major neighborhoods of the city all
had grocery
and drugstores, some owned by recent immigrants. The North
Side, for ex-
ample, had nine in-neighborhood grocers.4 Other small business
included
bicycle shops and printing presses. Around the turn of the
century, wealthy
residents moved out of downtown Dayton, making more space
for banking,
business offices, restaurants, and motion picture theaters.
Between 1900
and 1910, Dayton grew by 31,000 people, and “the downtown
would reap
the benefits as more people shopped, banked, ate, and visited
the city’s busi-
ness center.”5 Business districts developed at the intersections
of Keowee

and Valley and Third and Williams, the Dayton Arcade was
constructed in
1904, Elder and Johnson opened for business in 1905, and the
Rike-Kumber
department store opened its doors in 1908.
Housing, tight-knit urban neighborhoods, and religious
institutions were
also integral to community life in Dayton. An important social
phenome-
non in the city, and in America’s Midwest, was the high rate of
single-family
home ownership. High wages earned by specialized workers in
Dayton’s
factories fostered urban neighborhoods of single-family homes.
Neighbor-
hoods had a tradition of civic organization and initiative. Many
families
owned homes downtown in communities that mixed residential
buildings
with other urban institutions, which helped develop tight-knit
neighbor-
hoods. North Dayton had a mix of homes, factories, churches,
and schools.
Dayton was home to many religious institutions, including the
First Baptist
Church, the Forest Avenue Church, and St. Thomas Episcopal
Church. In
addition, the United Brothers of Christ and the Catholic Church
had strong
institutional presence in the city.
In addition to the economic and cultural conditions of the city,
the progres-

sive movement was important to Dayton’s civic life. Broadly
defined, progres-
sivism was a set of actions undertaken by broad groups of
Americans in the
late nineteenth and early twentieth century in response to
industrialization,
urbanization, and immigration. It was a complex and
multifaceted movement
that combined “both excitement and doubt, optimism and
fear.”6 Historian
Una M. Cadegan has pointed out that “in 1912 Dayton was at
the forefront of
Progressive era reform in the U.S.” In the first two decades of
the twentieth
century, Daytonians exerted a tremendous amount of energy
addressing the
growth and industrialization of their city. Thus, Cadegan
concludes, “when
the flood occurred, there were systems and networks already in
place that
people could draw on in response to the flood’s most immediate
needs.”7
Dayton provides an interesting case study of progressivism
because it was
there that John Patterson and other corporate leaders used
modern methods
of business to respond to the exigencies of industrialization.
Scholars em-
phasize Patterson’s drive to place business values of efficiency,
productivity,
and competence in city government. Beginning in 1896, he led a
campaign
to change the city’s government from a ward-based electorate to
a city man-
ager system, an effort described as “a heavy dose of expertise
mixed with

6. For a general discussion of the historiography of
progressivism, see Glenda Eliza-
beth Gilmore, ed., Who Were the Progressives? (Boston:
Bedford-St. Martin’s, 2002); Judith
Sealander, Grand Plans: Business Progressivism and Social
Change in Ohio’s Miami Valley,
1890–1929 (Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1988), 52.
7. Una M. Cadegan, “Where History Comes From: The Dayton
Flood and Why We Re-
member,” in Preserving Memories of Dayton’s Great Flood, ed.
Elli Bambakidis (Dayton: Day-
ton Metro Library, 2004), 4–5.
8. John C. Teaford, Cities in the Heartland: The Rise and Fall
of the Industrial Midwest
(Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1994), 122.
9. Charlotte Reeve Conover, Dayton, Ohio: An Intimate History
(New York: Lewis Histori-
cal, 1932), 268–69; Allen W. Eckert, A Time of Terror: The
Great Dayton Flood (Boston: Little,
Brown, 1965). Arthur E. Morgan, The Miami Conservancy
District (New York: McGraw Hill,
1951), 31. Charles Lloyd Lindenfield, “The Great Dayton Flood
of 1913” (master’s thesis, Ohio
State University, 1962), a copy of which can be found in the
Dayton Metro Library Local His-
tory Room; Teaford, Cities in the Heartland; Sealander, Grand
Plans, 33.
a thorough application of business methods.”8 Historians
continue to de-

bate the role of business leaders in the Progressive Era,
particularly because
this period witnessed the growth of massive corporations.
Economic elites
are recognized as a driving force in municipal reform. Recent
scholarship,
however, stresses that variegated groups formed broad
coalitions aimed at
reform. A portrait of the response to the Dayton flood of 1913
that integrates
the efforts of business elites with other Daytonians like
neighborhood lead-
ers and downtown merchants offers a complex view of how a
progressive
coalition formed in response to an unanticipated natural
disaster.
In terms of scholarship and memory, the flood of 1913 is
perhaps the
most important event in Dayton’s history. Relief efforts are
remembered
as “neighbors helping neighbors.” Memory is a telling action in
and of it-
self, but the historian cannot be content with this version of
flood relief.
The sheer complexity of the city gave rise to a wide spectrum of
responses.
A number of writers have reached conclusions similar to those
attained
through exercises of memory. Charlotte Reeve Conover, an
often-quoted
Dayton historian, found a few discrepancies but wrote
effusively in 1932
about the generosity and dedication of Gem City residents. In
1951, Arthur
E. Morgan championed the thesis that Daytonians united to
drive down

the number of deaths. Many studies have gone beyond the
memory narra-
tive. In 1962, scholar Charles Lloyd Lindenfield deepened our
understand-
ing of the flood by detailing three lines of relief: individual,
organizational,
and John Patterson’s effort. Other scholars, like Tom Dunham
and John C.
Teaford, located the flood in a political context. By far the most
compre-
hensive treatment of the flood is Judith Sealander’s in Grand
Plans: Busi-
ness Progressivism and Social Change in Ohio’s Miami Valley,
1890–1929, in
which she details the efforts of John Patterson and other
business moguls
during and after the flood. Although she mentions that
“voluntary commu-
nity organization, not reliance on government aid, dominated
flood relief
and recovery efforts,” her overwhelming focus on business has
obscured the
contributions of the city’s neighborhoods and organizations.9
Placing the efforts of business elites in Dayton’s social and
cultural con-
texts integrates the efforts of Patterson and the National Cash
Register Com-
pany with community organizations, technology, material
culture, and the
urban consumer economy. Three important conclusions can be
drawn from

this exercise. First, NCR and the neighborhoods of Dayton
View, West Day-
ton, and Riverdale took on initial relief efforts. They operated
independently,
setting up relief stations and hospitals and running a
sophisticated operation
until almost a week after the flood, when they were
consolidated into NCR’s
Department of Distribution. Religious leaders, merchants,
schoolmasters,
civic leaders, housewives, and grocery store owners—in
addition to Patter-
son and business elites—coordinated the relief effort and were
integral to
the operation. Business efficiency was important in relief
efforts, as was the
tight-knit urban neighborhood. Stated simply, relief was both
top-down and
bottom-up. This was paramount for a successful relief effort.
Second, every-
day technology was crucial to flood relief, particularly in the
form of the au-
tomobile. Examining the material culture of Dayton in 1913
provides a more
complex picture of what was possible during and after the flood.
And third,
rebuilding the consumer economy was central to relief and
rehabilitation ef-
forts. Policy makers made consumerism a part of progressive
policy after the
flood, thinking that consumer culture was evidence of a robust
municipality.
Thus, rebuilding a vibrant consumer market was recognized as
the reestab-
lishment of the local economy as well as a cultural victory.

The flood came in the last days of March 1913, courtesy of
some of the most
severe weather in U.S. history. Tornadoes wreaked destruction
in Nebraska
and Iowa, and the storms that spawned them migrated west to
east. On
March 22, 1913, much of America’s Middle West, but
specifically Indiana
and Ohio, began to experience an unprecedented downpour.10
In the Mi-
ami Valley, where temperatures did not get above 20 degrees,
the still-frozen
earth could not absorb all the water. Water levels continued to
rise on Easter
Sunday and the day after. On Tuesday, March 25, around 6:00
a.m., the
Mad River Levee collapsed, flooding the Miami and Erie canals.
The city’s
factories and churches sounded their alarms. At 7:00 a.m. the
old canal
bed collapsed, pushing a wall of water over twenty-five feet
high into every
downtown street, filling up the downtown business districts and
continu-
ing into the adjacent residential areas of North Dayton,
Edgemont, Dayton
View, and Riverdale and threatening thousands of lives.11
Due the early hour, most Gem City business workers had not
yet arrived
at their jobs. Those unfortunates who were on the streets that
morning fought
the strong current. The major danger the water posed was its
speed, which
10. Thomas W. Schmidlin and Jeanne Appelhans Schmidlin,
Thunder in the Heartland: A

Chronicle of Outstanding Weather Events in Ohio (Kent, Ohio:
Kent State Univ. Press, 1996),
172–85.
11. Sealander, Grand Plans, 44.
The Dayton neighborhoods affected in the 1913 flood. The
National Cash Register
facility managed to escape water damage. Dayton (Ohio) Metro
Library
moved at 250,000 cubic feet per second. Tragically, a woman
and child died
when the waters overturned their horse-drawn carriage. Even
those who were
in their houses were not safe from the roiling waters. H. W.
Lindsey, a resi-
dent of South Dayton, noted that “the water is flowing west
towards the river
so very strongly that houses and barns were torn from their
foundations.” A
number of Daytonians went down with their houses. Lindsey
witnessed a
neighbor board a makeshift raft that was quickly destroyed by
the current:
“Eventually the remnants were insufficient to keep the old man
afloat and he
finally sank below the surface.”12 Others who attempted
rescues perished in

the strong currents. And even those on boats were at risk, since
“the savage
current rendered their occupancy extremely hazardous.”13
Rescuer George
McLintock, who saved an estimated fifty people, died when
someone jumped
into his boat and flipped it over. In the end, around 360 people
perished in the
Dayton flood—a low number in a city of 140,000.14
The initial effort of flood relief, and the most immediate, was
the use of
creative lifesaving devices by various individual Daytonians. A
creative use
of the city’s material culture and technology played a role in
limiting the
death toll. Many Daytonians sought out rooftops, attics, upper
floors, trees,
poles, and other elevations. A number of buildings in the city
were higher
than the thirty-foot flood line. While this left many
“marooned”—a term
used by participants to describe those who were stranded by the
flood—it
also saved their lives and allowed for their later rescue. This
was the fate of
an estimated 65,000 Daytonians. A number of others found
themselves ma-
rooned because, rather than escaping, they moved belongings
such as pia-
nos from the first floor of their house to the second. Sadly, the
effort was
insufficient and floodwaters still ruined these items. Ironically,
those who
were stranded commented on the great mass of things that came
out of
houses and took advantage their availability. Local Judge

Walter D. Jones
recalled that “down both streets poured a mass of drift, now a
lot of chairs
and tables from some home, now counters, shelving, barrels,
boxes, crates
of fruit . . . several pianos, piles of lumber, and worst of all
some struggling,
drowning horse.”15 These floating groceries actually provided
livelihood for
some. One resident fished a barrel of pickles out of the water,
another a box
of apples. H. W. Filley, trapped in the Union station with 115
others, recalled
that “our food came from the debris which floated on the water.
We had
12. Quoted in Curt Dalton, Through Flood, Through Fire:
Personal Stories from Survivors
of the Dayton Flood of 1913 (Dayton: Mazer, 2001), 93–94.
This is a bound collection of valu-
able primary sources, including diaries, newspaper articles,
journal articles, memos, etc., that
captures individuals’ perspectives on the flood relief and
rehabilitation.
13. Lindenfield, “The Great Dayton Flood,” 30.
14. For a list, complete with age, address, and race, see Dalton,
Through Flood, 173–74.
15. Ibid., 35.
apples, ham, succotash, sausage, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes
and cab-
bage.”16 In many instances, trapped Daytonians moved tubs to

the rooftops
in order to collect drinking water. Those at the Dayton
Engineering Labora-
tory Company actually made coffee and cooked provisions with
“electricity
generated by an automobile engine hooked up to a dynamo.”17
Yet others,
like J. Harvey Kirkbride, saw the flood as an opportunity to loot
and took
supplies from downtown stores. Walking across roofs into
department
stores, he found “lots of apples and grapefruit . . . canned goods
and to-
bacco.”18
On Wednesday, March 26, fire broke out, and individual
material relief
needed to take the form of evacuation. The fire began when the
Burkhardt
and Rotterdam drugstore collapsed on Tuesday afternoon onto a
gas line.
Around 1:30 a.m. the following day, a gas explosion started a
fire that en-
gulfed the entire north side of Third Street between St. Clair
and Jeffer-
son.19 Some residents used driftwood from sheds, fences, and
houses to
build rafts. Fred F. Aring recalled that “a lot of people are
building rafts on
their roofs from doors shutters and furniture.”20 Others
extended ropes and
cables to escape the burning buildings. An extreme example of
this took
place when A. J. Bard and 150 people who were trapped in the
City National
Bank building on Third Street used an elevator cable to escape
the burning

building. A boatman grabbed one end of the cable, and with the
other fas-
tened in the bank, “the 150 persons in the bank went their way,
hand over
hand, along the cable over the swirling torrent to the
courthouse.”21 Here,
relief and rescue took the form of individual resourcefulness.
The next most important line of relief was provided by
individual Day-
tonians with boats. A good number of Gem City residents
owned boats for
both leisure and commerce, and when Dayton flooded, they
were quickly
enlisted in the rescue efforts. Boaters saved family members,
neighbors, and
strangers. It is hard to know exactly how many Daytonians were
saved with
boats, but it numbers in the thousands. Arthur E. Morgan
estimated that
150 people were involved in boat rescue efforts and that they
removed more
than 8,800 from flooded areas.22 The effort began immediately
on the first
day of flooding. The Dayton Daily News proclaimed that “boats
were scarce
at first, but soon the danger became so threatening that every
man who
16. Ibid., 46.
17. Dayton: Being a Story of the Great Flood as Seen from the
Delco Factory, Apr. 1913, Dayton
History Books Online,
http://www.daytonhistorybooks.citymax.com/page/page/450118
4.html.
18. Dalton, Through Flood, 67.
19. For details on the fire, see ibid., 72–76.

20. Ibid., 86.
21. Ibid., 59.
22. Morgan, The Miami Conservancy District, 31.
knew where there was a boat of any sort found its hiding place
and it was
confiscated for use.”23 Dayton periodicals ran stories detailing
the nature
of the rescuers’ work with boats. A typical case was that of J.
Bob Fries and
Fred Nitzel, who, with a canoe, “worked incessantly and were
successful in
taking 135 persons out of the flood.”24 Wilbur J. Schneider
used a sixteen-
foot rowboat to bring home an estimated 300 to 400 people.25
Robert Elder,
a local department store owner, used his swimming and
canoeing skills to
save a number of lives.26 After being picked up by boat,
Daytonians were
taken to local relief stations. S. Shapira, an NCR worker, “saved
about 100
people by means of a boat around Quitman, Fifth, Brown and
Jefferson
Streets . . . all were removed to the NCR hospital in
ambulances.”27 These
are just a few examples that filled the papers in the weeks after
the flood.
As one part of his remarkable relief effort, John H. Patterson
ordered his
woodworking department to construct flat-bottom boats
designed to seat a

total of six people plus a rower. He gave the order on March 25
at 6:45 a.m.,
and within the hour NCR carpenters were producing the boats at
a rate of
two every fifteen minutes. They made nearly 300. Then
“organized crews
of other NCR employees took the boats throughout the flooded
district,
rescuing people who had been clinging for hours or days to
utility poles,
trees or snow covered rooftops.”28 The NCR boats had a
significant impact
on the relief effort both in bringing people to relief centers and
in deliver-
ing food. The Dayton Daily News wrote, “Free Oates, of the
N.C.R., of Oak
Street, using one of the flat-bottomed boats built at the NCR
was able to
bring to safety 10 or 12 persons and did valuable work in
carrying food to
pent up families in the upper stories of the flooded district.”29
NCR boats
were used to move flood victims to a network of relief centers.
Flood victim
Lillie H. Kilpatrick recalled that “after calling for help the NCR
boats came
on Wednesday morning and took us all, one by one, a round
about way over
the over the burnt buildings to the Creamery . . . where a
number of other
persons were rescued and here we remained until Thursday
morning with
the NCR boats came again and took us out to the Cash
Register.”30
From the early hours of the flood, effective rescue efforts came
from sources

other than the government, whether local, state, or federal. The
local govern-
ment’s effort was the least effective, and the flood seemed to
confirm, for most
23. Dayton Daily News, Apr. 5, 1913.
24. “Heroes of the Flood,” ibid., Apr. 12, 1913.
25. Ibid.
26. “Robert Elder Risks Life to Save Others,” Dayton Journal,
Apr. 2, 1913.
27. “Little Sidelights on Disaster Which Had Been Overlooked
in Rush for News,” ibid.,
Apr. 5, 1913.
29. “Heroes of the Flood,” Dayton Daily News, Apr. 5, 1913.
30. Lillie H. Kilpatrick’s untitled account in Dalton, Through
Flood, 94.
Dayton residents, the failure of the ward system. One reason for
the govern-
ment’s failure was geographic: When flooding began, water
quickly filled city
hall. By 10:30 a.m., flood currents were already so strong that
Ohio National
Guard general George Wood could not access the building and
had to take
refuge in a nearby residence.31 Therefore, relief work by Mayor
Edward Phil-
lips was limited to a national call for aid on March 26, in which
he claimed
that 5,000 lives had been lost and 30,000 Dayton residents were
homeless.32

Mayor Phillips and the ward commissioners were not a force for
relief, and
their most important action was handing command of the relief
operation
over to NCR and Patterson, who was given the opportunity to
demonstrate
the efficacy of business values in city government.
Authorities at the state and federal levels experienced similar
hardships.
The supplies were to come directly from Secretary of War
Lindley M. Garri-
son, but his train to Ohio was delayed by rain and forced to
make a detour;
on March 28, he was passing through Roanoke, Virginia, with
the desti-
nation of Columbus.33 Traveling even from Columbus to
Dayton proved
difficult; it took the messengers that Governor Cox dispatched
to Dayton
almost sixteen hours to arrive.
Governor Cox’s most significant action during the flood was
his March
27 appointment of John Patterson as head of the Citizens’ Relief
Committee
(CRC). However, General Wood had already transferred
authority to Pat-
terson on the 25th, though Patterson had already appointed
himself head of
the relief committee earlier that same day. Cox did make one
important call
for aid. On April 5, he telegraphed the War Department at
Washington and
asked for 50,000 tents and 1 million rations.34
The same transportation difficulties affected relief at the
federal level as
well. Woodrow Wilson called for funds to be donated to the Red

Cross,35
but because of the difficulty in transporting the government
workers and
materials, relief arrived too late to aid in initial rescue efforts.
In sum, gov-
ernment had little to no involvement in the initial relief effort.
Its role, how-
ever, would change with the recovery efforts.
Despite the government’s trouble in getting aid to Dayton,
some immedi-
ate relief was provided by neighboring villages, towns, suburbs,
and farms,
which provided the first wave of outside relief. Arthur Morgan,
engineer
and future architect of the Miami Conservancy District, noted
that “farmers
butchered cattle and hogs to add to the relief supplies. Farmer’s
wives worked
32. “Mayor of Dayton Appeals for Aid for 30,000 Homeless,”
Boston Globe, Mar. 26, 1913.
33. “Garrison Bound for Dayton,” Boston Evening Herald, Mar.
28, 1913.
34. “U.S. to Feed Ohio Starving,” Boston Traveler, Mar. 26,
1913.
35. “Wilson Orders Flood Relief,” Boston Herald, Mar. 27,
1913.
all day and into the night baking bread, boiling hams and eggs .
. . from their
dairy houses came butter, cheese and milk.”36 The suburb of

Greenville raised
$1,000 in just thirty minutes.37 Lewisburg sent ten canoes
manned by ex-
perienced oarsmen.38 Some people also traveled to Dayton to
assist in the
relief effort. Automobiles and trucks made moving people and
goods more
effective. Within two hours after the reports of Dayton’s
misfortune, Preble
County sent “three automobile truck loads on their way to
Dayton.”39Outside
communities provided local organizations, like the relief
committee in Day-
ton View and the NCR, with needed support. Some made direct
connections
with Dayton’s neighborhoods. “Relief committees in Greenville,
Troy, Tippe-
canoe, Arcanum, West Milton, Pleasant Hill, Laura and other
towns and vil-
lages made house to house canvasses for relief supplies that
were forwarded
to the Riverdale Relief Committee.”40 Railroad supplies came
into Dayton
View from Brookville, Arcanum, Greenville, Eaton, West
Alexandria, Eldo-
rado, Union City, and West Milton. The local and regional
effort was made
possible by an array of citizens’ committees formed in places
like South Park,
Oakwood, Beavertown, Centerville, Lebanon, and Xenia.41
Finally, homes in
these areas provided a place of refuge for citizens fleeing the
city. Rescued
families were sent out from the NCR plant to Beavertown and
Centerville to
take shelter with farmers.42

Corporations made similar contributions. The Pennsylvania
Railroad
shipped goods received from other corporations and citizen
relief commit-
tees free of charge. It sent their own supply train with its
carpenters, wire-
men, machines, and tradesmen and stocked with medical
supplies, bed-
ding, and food. On Wednesday, March 26, when floodwaters
had crested
and trains were once again moving, an NCR relief train arrived
in Dayton
with blankets, food, and medicine. Two others arrived on
Thursday and
Friday. Patterson was key in soliciting aid from corporations.
He exchanged
numerous telegrams with Henry Leland of the Cadillac Motor
Company,
R. B. Beach of the Chicago Commerce Association, and other
corporate
leaders. One of the most important corporate relief efforts came
from the
nascent automobile industry. On March 31, the Universal Truck
Company
sent a truck and driver to NCR.43 Henry Leland of Cadillac did
the same,
37. “Suburban Cities Gave Assistance,” Dayton Daily News,
Apr. 15, 1913.
38. “Villages Quick to Aid Stricken Dayton,” Dayton Journal,
Apr. 4, 1913.
39. “Preble County,” Dayton Evening Herald, Mar. 31, 1913.
40. “Farmers Assistance Deeply Appreciated,” Dayton Journal,
Apr. 10, 1913.

42. Ibid.
43. H. L. Winter to John H. Patterson, Mar. 31, 1913, Dayton
History, National Cash Regis-
ter Company (NCR) Archives, Dayton, Ohio.
sending Patterson two trucks and three “expert” drivers.44
Executive L. E.
Olwell, in an article in the New York American, wrote of the
contribution
of the automobile industry: “No sooner did news of the flood
reach De-
troit and Cleveland, centers of the automobile manufacturing
industry than
whole fleets of cars and trucks were on their way to the helpless
cities . . .
From the Hudson, Packard, Chalmers, Studebaker, Peerless,
Cadillac, Ford,
Speedwell, White and Maxwell factories came cars and
trucks.”45 Indeed,
automobiles and trucks played an important role in moving
refugees, trans-
porting supplies, and removing debris from the city.
Other cities also made important contributions to the relief
effort. A re-
port made to John H. Patterson after the flood claimed that 232
U.S. cit-
ies had contributed to the relief and rehabilitation effort.46
Detroit, Toledo,
and Cincinnati provided the most important relief measures.
Even though
north-south railroads were still experiencing delays, these cities
delivered

relief supplies as early as March 26. Cincinnati provided the
most signifi-
cant relief. After exchanging wires with John Patterson, Mayor
Henry Hunt
sent boats and men to Dayton in cars provided by the Cincinnati
Traction
Company. On March 26 Cincinnatians formed their own
Citizens’ Flood
Relief Committee and sent another train to Dayton with four
carloads of
provisions, medical and undertakers’ supplies, and a large party
of relief
workers made up of twenty-five volunteer social workers,
twenty trained
nurses, and fifteen senior students from the University of
Cincinnati.47 The
mayor of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, perhaps sympathetic
because of their
own experience with a more devastating flood in 1889, wrote to
Patterson,
stating, “We have shipped you four cars of provisions and
clocthing [sic]
accompanied by our chief of police who is at your command
advise me to
who and how we shall send money collected for your relief.”48
Yet efforts from outside the city were not nearly as substantial
as the
efforts of John Patterson and NCR. With no organizational help
from the
government, John Patterson and other business leaders stepped
in to fill the
void. Patterson organized a private effort that saved many lives
both during
and after the flood. At 6:45 a.m. on March 25, fifteen minutes
before the levy
broke, Patterson created the Dayton Citizens’ Relief

Association, which he
headed, and just below him were his top executives. In addition
to ordering
44. H. M. Leland to John H. Patterson, Mar. 31, 1913, NCR
Archives.
45. The article is from the New York American, June 1, 1913,
and is reprinted in Morgan,
The Conservancy District, 72–73.
46. Committee Report to John H. Patterson, Apr. 18, 1913,
NCR Archives.
47. “Report of the Relief Extended to the Sufferers of the Ohio
Floods of March 1913, by
the Citizens Relief Committee of Cincinnati, OH,” found in
Morgan, The Miami Conservancy
District, 54–56.
48. Joseph Cauffiel to John H. Patterson, Mar. 28, 1913, NCR
Archives.
his woodworking department to build boats, he had the
company’s food
services division to make 2,000 loaves of bread and 500 gallons
of soup;
he ordered his hydraulics department to find fresh water; he told
purchas-
ing to buy cots, beds, blankets, pillows, work shirts, trouser,
cotton dresses,
shoes of all sizes, boots, coveralls, and gloves.49 Patterson’s
foresight and
action proved effective. His 7,100 employees, still being paid
their wages,
were organized and contributed to the relief effort. Some went

out on boats,
others on motorcycles, and some stayed in the factory to help
refugees. The
squads of motorcyclists patrolled the parts of the city not under
water, de-
livered supplies, and apprehended looters.50 A memo dated
March 26 notes
that “today food has been distributed by automobile and boats
to as many
needy people as we have food.”51 Later, NCR workers with
motorcycles de-
livered messages, food, clothing, and medicine. Under the
leadership of R.
I. Hutgen, “there was about an average of 50 men working in
the motorcycle
squad while the relief work was in progress.”52
In addition, Patterson converted his factory into the nerve
center of
relief efforts and the city’s major relief station. Though there
were many
relief stations in the city, Patterson’s factory provided
leadership and coor-
dination for most others. Men in boats dropped off evacuees,
and others
in automobiles transported goods to a network of relief stations.
Patterson
turned the fourth level of his factory into a maternity ward; his
fifth to sev-
enth floors became sleeping quarters; the eighth housed barbers,
cleaners,
and laundrymen; and the tenth and eleventh were women’s
quarters.53 Pat-
terson’s female workers, who during normal work time served
as secretaries
and clerks, became waitresses who ushered flood survivors to
tables and

served them hot food. Sealander writes, “Other NCR workers
toiled in dif-
ferent parts of the building, sorting and fumigating great piles
of clothing,
brought to the plant by teams of NCR employees sent to fan
through the
non flooded parts of the city to ask for donations.”54 Arthur
Ruhl, reporter
for the Outlook, noted that all were fed, offered hot coffee, and
even had
the opportunity to press their clothing.55 He estimated that
perhaps 5,000
people were fed on the company’s dollar. Relief efforts also
included enter-
tainment. Patterson cleared out several offices, placing in each a
piano so
that relief victims could pass the time by singing.
NCR’s location on the South Side resulted in it being difficult
for aid
49. The minutes are reprinted in Dalton, Through Flood, 25–26.
51. NCR corporate memo, Mar. 26, 1913, NCR Archives.
52. “Motorcycle Squad Does Relief Work,” Dayton Daily
News, Apr. 5, 1913.
53. Dalton, Through Flood, 25–26.
55. Arthur Ruhl, “The Disaster at Dayton,” The Outlook, Apr.
12, 1913, 808–9.
to reach the North Side and West Side. Patterson admitted this
much in a

wire sent to the New York Times on March 27: “We cannot
reach central,
northeastern, northern or western parts of the city.”56 Historian
Charles
Lloyd Lindenfield, finding that some commentators
overestimated Pat-
terson’s reach, wrote, “Daytonians separated from the NCR by
inundated
territory and having no outstanding leader of organization
around which
to build their relief efforts did a very good job of organizing
themselves.”57
During the flood and in its immediate aftermath, relief
organizations were
created in Dayton View, Riverdale, North Dayton, and on the
West Side.
These organizations operated independently of NCR until April
2, when the
CRC began to coordinate the overall relief effort. Community
organization
is an important reason why the death toll was so low and the
relief effort
so effective. On April 5, the Dayton Journal noted, “Splendid
organization
is the most striking feature of the relief stations in North
Dayton, Riverdale
and Dayton View. All were put into operation within a very
short time af-
ter the flood started, growing from a stock of provision large
enough for a
few people, to organization capable of caring for the wants of
five thousand
people daily.”58 Few sources detailed the relief efforts in North
Dayton, but
efforts in Dayton View, Riverdale, and on the West Side were
documented

and are telling of the bottom-up currents of relief effort.
Neighborhood re-
lief stations were key in providing shelter and food to thousands
of Gem
City residents. Daytonians converted schools, churches, civic
centers, and
hospitals into relief centers. It is clear from a list of relief
stations published
by the Dayton Journal on April 5 that there was a substantial
number and
that many were created dedicated citizens, clergymen, and
professionals.59
Sophisticated neighborhood organization took place in Dayton
View,
a wealthy community that was partially underwater. Dayton
View was a
“bedroom community” for the wealthy and, as such, was
relatively isolated
from Dayton’s commercial and industrial sectors. This division
was made
even more evident by the floodwaters. The Dayton Journal
noted that “iso-
lated, as they were, from the balance of the city and having in
their section
very few sources of supply, Dayton View residents quickly saw
the need of
immediate action in order to be able to care for the thousands
who would
be brought from the flooded section of the city.”60 Seventy-five
of the resi-
dents met on Tuesday, March 25, at 9:00 a.m. and created the
Dayton View
56. John H. Patterson to the New York Times, Mar. 27, 1913,
cited in Dalton, Through Flood,
121–22.

58. Dayton Journal, Apr. 5, 1913.
59. “Relief Stations, Their Location and Person in Charge of
Each,” ibid., Apr. 3, 1913.
60. Ibid., Apr. 20, 1913. The entire article is reprinted in
Lindenfield, “The Great Dayton
Flood,” 52–57.
Improvement Association, which consisted of individual
committees for
boats, food, automobiles, housing, and sanitation. The
Improvement Asso-
ciation immediately set up stations in the Forest Avenue Church
and on the
Williams Street and Dayton View bridges. The Dayton Journal
claimed that
the work at Forest Avenue Church “was without a doubt the
greatest work
of rescue during the entire flood . . . resulting in the saving of
hundreds of
lives and restoring to safety the total of 1,500 persons, many of
whom were
women and children.”61 An estimated 15,000 sought safety on
their side of
the Miami River. The residents of Dayton View sent food,
water, and steril-
ized milk to other flooded districts. They also built four
makeshift hospi-
tals in their district. Dr. John C. Reeve, arriving at Riverview
on Saturday,
March 29, recorded in his diary how “Dayton View is a huge
relief station;

schoolhouse headquarters, full and more coming. Good
organization.”62
Importantly, the Dayton View Improvement Association was
able to
connect to the surrounding rural communities. Railroad cars
came in
from Brookville, Arcanum, Greenville, Eaton, West Alexandria,
Eldorado,
Union City, and West Milton.63 Each relief station in Dayton
View man-
aged to acquire automobiles, which enabled them to move flood
victims to
the countryside. Journalist Eugene J. Cour reported that “the
Dayton View
schoolhouse, military headquarters and the refugee station for
the City of
Dayton, was crowded with the thousands who had been rescued
from the
waters. Here they were sent to various homes on the heights . . .
forty-five
automobiles were running continuously from this point, carrying
refugees
to homes and churches.”64
Automobiles were used to move flood victims to places of
safety in the
countryside and to bring food and supplies back from the farms.
This con-
vinced many of the automobile’s value. Arthur E. Morgan
proclaimed that “its
behavior at the time of the Dayton flood was a revelation and
greatly added to
its prestige.”65 The citizens of Dayton View donated their
vehicles to the auto-
mobile committee, enabling it to “provide quick and efficient
service.”66 Each
rescue station in Dayton View was assigned an automobile so

that refugees
could be taken to homes immediately after getting out of the
boats.
Dayton View was not the only community organization to make
such
contributions. On the West Side—a section almost completely
underwa-
ter—a relief committee was organized at 9:30 Tuesday morning,
March 25, at
61. “Greatest Rescue Work Centers from Forest Avenue
Church,” Dayton Journal, Apr. 2,
1913.
64. Eugene J. Cour’s article from the Chicago Journal, Mar. 29,
1913, reprinted in Dalton,
Through Flood, 140.
the United Brethren Church. Chairman C. Kershner formed
supply, sanita-
tion, and finance committees and a citizens’ police force. The
West Side was
within walking distance of several downtown factories and had
a number
of retail outlets and businesses built along Fifth Street and at
the corners
of Third and Williams streets.67 This mix of homes, factories,
retail outlets,
churches, and schools provided an infrastructure for relief

efforts there, and
relief substations were established throughout the
neighborhood. Again, the
automobile was the key technology. The Dayton Journal
reported that “Will
and Walter Kuhns, Charles Thies, the grocer, Harry Thompson,
C.E. Bice
and many others obtained automobiles, did rescue work, rode
out the coun-
try and ‘nailed’ farmers telling them of the station in the city
and beseeching
them to rush back home for food supplies.”68
The people of Riverdale, which was just northwest of the
Miami River’s
bend, organized a similar committee. They made the local
firehouse and
schoolhouse their primary headquarters, with churches and
shops also used
as relief centers. The schoolhouse stored 6,000 rations on the
first floor and
had a hospital on the second. The group even created a registry
that proved
important in reuniting families after the flood. The Dayton
Daily News re-
ported that “the organization in Riverdale has been first class
from the start
and to this fact can be credited the general escape of the people
from actual
privation.”69 As in efforts on the West Side, they immediately
dispatched
wagons and automobiles to collect supplies from local farmers
and the rural
towns of Gordon, Trotwood, Dodson, and Wengerlawn.
Distributing foods and supplies was central to rehabilitating the
city,
which sustained a great deal of damage during the flood.

Estimated prop-
erty damage was around $100,000,000. Approximately 1,500 to
2,000
horses had drowned, and when the floodwaters receded, their
carcasses
were strewn throughout the city. After the waters receded, a
thick coat of
mud covered the city. The Dayton Daily News, reporting on the
business
district, wrote how “magnificent department stores are in
horrible condi-
tions . . . everything that would float has been overturned and
reduced to
worthless debris. That tells the story of every store, big and
little.”70
Floodwaters had fully subsided by March 28, and relief efforts
became
rehabilitation efforts. Plans for this shift began on March 30
when R. H.
Grant, head of NCR’s distribution, formed a committee. He
informed Pat-
terson, “Our policy will be to provide for our Relief Stations
which we have
68. “West Side Is First in the Organization of Body for the
Relief of Sufferers,” Dayton
Journal, Apr. 4, 1913.
69. “Riverdale Relief Work,” Dayton Daily News, Apr. 15,
1913.
70. “Immense Loss,” ibid., Mar. 28, 1913.

organized and to cooperate with and help those that have started
indepen-
dently.”71 After April 2, NCR built on Dayton’s infrastructure
and already
existing relief organizations as they organized the rehabilitation
effort into
ten districts. Neighborhood groups never stopped contributing
to the over-
all effort.
On April 1, 1913, the Department of Distribution was officially
formed.72
The department worked in conjunction with the army and
channeled Red
Cross funds into the rehabilitation effort.73 At the head was R.
H. Grant,
who worked hand in hand with supplies manager J. Q. Finfock.
Under Grant
was the Committee on Relief Stations—made up of Dr. Frank
Garland, E. L.
Shuey, and W. B. Riley—which oversaw nine district managers
and forty-six
relief station heads. Each district had a defined geographic area,
a manager,
and an office. Schools, churches, clubs, and public meeting
spaces were con-
verted into relief stations. District No. 9, for example, was led
by F. S. Smith,
whose office was at Stivers High School and had a geographic
boundary de-
fined by roads, railroads, and the Mad River. It included
Zimmer Hall, St.
Paul’s Church, Memorial Presbyterian Church, and Third Street
German
Baptist Church and had as its station heads C. M. Stephens, W.
G. Morrison,
Reverend Brownlee, Mr. Norblett, and Mrs. Bertha Zwick.

Without election or a formal transfer of authority, the
Department of
Distribution consolidated the city’s relief organizations and
made them ac-
countable to the CRC—all in the name of conservation and
efficiency. The
committee planned to check up on relief stations, appointing a
committee
of ladies for the effort, and took authority over the district
commanders.
The April 2 memo stated, “It will be our policy from this time
on to con-
serve our supplies and only give the proper quantities of food
and supplies
to persons actually in need. . . . We want to bend every effort to
supply
the actual need of the people in the most economical way.”74
The system
included holding the local manager and district manager
accountable for
seeing that each station received proper rations.
Memos exchanged between R. H. Grant and the district
managers illumi-
nate the effort to feed and supply Daytonians in the days
immediately after the
flood. Grant and the Department of Distribution provided
crucial supplies
and information to the managers of relief centers. Distribution
forms were
created, and managers could specify on them whether they
needed food, fuel,
clothing, bedding, or miscellaneous items. Relief centers also
became places
for monetary transactions: laborers and relief workers received
their wages

71. R. H. Grant to Patterson, Chambers, and Finfock, Mar. 30,
1913, NCR Archives.
72. Citizens’ Relief Committee memo, Apr. 1, 1913, NCR
Archives.
74. Citizens’ Relief Committee memo, Apr. 2, 1913, NCR
Archives.
and paid for food. On April 3, Grant shipped cooking and
heating stoves,
coal, oil in cans, wheelbarrows, brooms, rubber boots for
nurses, disinfectant,
and lime to Reverend Corley, manager of the Huffman School
System.75 On
April 6, Grant sent soup, vegetables, bread, salt, coffee, sugar,
and pepper to
several relief stations in an effort to feed 5,000 laborers.76 The
memo noted
that all of the relief stations already had cooking facilities,
evidence of the
extent to which NCR gathered information.
Of major concern to Grant and the district managers was the
reestablish-
ment of local grocery stores. D. A. Barlow, secretary of the
Interstate Grocer’s
in Dayton, estimated that the flood destroyed 150 to 175 grocers
in the city
and that losses were between $200,000 and $300,000.77
Reestablishing gro-
cery stores further privatized relief efforts and alleviated NCR’s
burden. The
Department of Distribution wanted to see the local consumer

economy pro-
viding for Daytonians. The effort to reestablish grocery stores
and channel
consumers to them illuminates one facet of NCR’s efforts to get
people off of
relief as quickly as possible. On April 6, Grant wrote to J. L.
Corley that “we
are doing all we can to persuade the people to go to their
grocers for their
provisions.”78 Reporting to Grant, district manager W. A.
Apple found that
out of eleven grocers in their area, nine were well stocked, two
were doing
business with cash, and nine were prepared to offer credit.79
Apple also re-
ported that “all grocers have agreed to submit to us lists of
patrons who have
means of supplying themselves, those who are employed and
now earning
money as well as those who are in a condition to need further
relief.”80 By
April 9, reopening grocery stores was a priority because NCR
relief stations
were then serving government rations.81
The information-gathering and business methods employed by
the CRC
prevented the misuse of supplies. NCR kept tabs on the status of
supplies.
According to Judith Sealander, “the standardized relief and
rehabilitation
application forms required by the Citizens’ Relief Committee
did eliminate
wasteful duplicated regulations and did create a body of
comparative in-
formation about applications that allowed greater degrees of
fairness in the

emergency help.”82 On April 6, Grant wrote to a Mr. Digby: “I
understand
75. R. H. Grant to Rev. Corley, Apr. 3, 1913, NCR Archives.
76. CRC Department of Distribution of Supplies memo, Apr. 6,
1913, NCR Archives.
77. “Grocers Ruined by Flood Need Assistance,” Interstate
Grocer, Apr. 19, 1913, Special
Collections and Archives, Paul Laurence Dunbar Library,
Wright State University, Dayton
(hereafter WSU).
78. H. R. Grant to J. L. Corley, Apr. 6, 1913, NCR Archives.
79. W. A. Apple to R. H. Grant, Apr. 7, 1913, NCR Archives.
80. W. A. Apple to R. H. Grant, Apr. 7, 1913, NCR Archives.
81. R. H. Grant, CRC Department of the Distribution of
Supplies memo, Apr. 9, 1913, NCR
Archives.
that you have fifteen cases of drinking water up on the sidewalk
in front of
Memorial Hall. If you are not in need of the same, please see
that they are
returned to the NCR building at once.”83 Hearing another rumor
of abuse,
Grant wrote to National Bank cashier Clarence Keifer asking for
the names
of those who abused the supplies: “By instructions to our relief
station
managers and by means of investigators, we have done a great
deal to stop
people who were not needy from getting supplies from relief

stations.”84 On
April 21, he sent out a memo noting that NCR had distributed
2,696 pairs
of boots and was asking for 1,000 back.85 The committee also
compiled sta-
tistics on how many stoves they had distributed to Dayton
homes and the
amount used and unused.
Overall, the efforts of the Department of Distribution were
successful.
In an April 15 memo, Grant commended those responsible for
distributing
food and supplies to the relief stations. “It has been a source of
great satis-
faction to the Citizens’ Relief Committee,” he wrote, “that none
of the food
has been lost or has been allowed to deteriorate, with the
exception of small
perishable goods in transit.”86 Grant praised the efforts of the
local railroad
men who came to Dayton despite flooding. Because railroad
transportation
was made difficult, the city’s wholesalers could not get their
supplies, but
some still chose to deliver supplies. Grant detailed NCR’s
success in supply-
ing local wholesalers and asserted that because wholesalers sold
to retailers,
a great amount of money was saved. He noted that “all this
money has been
carefully accounted for and the accounts will be properly
audited and open
for inspection.”87 Grant’s laudatory appraisal was vindicated
by an April 18
report to John H. Patterson in which the committee “heartily
approved” of

Grant’s and Finfock’s relief efforts.88 They were especially
impressed by “the
sales of perishable goods and other surplus supplies which has
been done
by careful check, and the fund so readily taken in by a cashier
in connec-
tion with a cash register.”89 Grant and Finfock also managed to
sell excess
commodities at a profit. The committee found that “the highest
number of
persons fed was 83,000 in one day; that as rapidly as possible
the number
has diminished until April 17 to 6,800.”90 The report further
noted that out
of the original forty-six relief stations, only four were in
operation.
83. H. R. Grant to Mr. Digby, Apr. 6, 1913, NCR Archives.
84. H. R. Grant to Mr. Clarence Keifer, Apr. 10, 1913, NCR
Archives.
85. Citizens’ Relief Committee, Department of Distribution
memo, Apr. 21, 1913, NCR
Archives.
86. H. R. Grant, CRC memo, Apr. 15, 1913, NCR Archives.
87. H. R. Grant, CRC memo, Apr. 15, 1913, NCR Archives.
NCR Archives.
NCR Archives.
NCR Archives.

Of particular importance was the rehabilitation of the family
home.
Daytonians were encouraged to clean out their own homes in an
effort to
make the city beautiful. The importance of the single-family
home to cities
in America’s Midwest is evident in the concerted postflood
efforts to bring
back home life. The CRC ran an article in the Dayton Journal on
April 5
stating, “The Relief committee desires to know at once what
families are in
need of assistance of other kinds than food and clothing. . . .
We want to see
the homes of Dayton re-established as quickly as possible.”91
Applications
for the aid could be found at various city institutions. The
program was a
success; “A total of 1,082 families received an average grant
worth $127 while
spending an average of $725 repairing their homes.”92
Sealander notes that
“homeowners could redeem vouchers for tools, lumber, plaster,
and paint,
in cases where their structures could be repaired.”93 This was
in part behind
NCR’s efforts to acquire stoves. On March 31 in a letter to the
Springfield
Chamber of Commerce, Patterson wrote, “Every stove puts a
family in its
own home to clean up.”94 The Red Cross also contributed over
a thousand
coal and gasoline stoves, free of charge.95
Returning Dayton families to their homes was motivated in part
by a
desire to rebuild the city’s economy. Policy makers made the

family unit the
basis of relief, linking the consumer economy with domestic and
munici-
pal housekeeping. The flood caused substantial damage to the
consumer
economy: some stores lost all of their merchandise, others
collapsed, and
some, like Rike-Kumler, were burned to the ground. On April 5,
govern-
ment officials assured Daytonians that as soon as relief efforts
ended, they
would invest in families and their homes.96 The efforts of NCR,
Red Cross,
and the government were also aimed in part at reestablishing the
family as
a consumer unit. The chair of the Red Cross National Relief
Committee,
Mabel T. Boardman, warned that “unless the people are assisted
in such
a way as to enable them to resume the normal condition of
buying, the
business community will be in a hopeless condition.”97 To
remedy this, she
called for feedback loop between wages and purchasing: “While
factories
are closed for repairs men can be given work for which they
will be paid in
the clearing away of the immense amount of debris . . . thus a
purchasing
91. “Relief Committee Will Aid Homeless,” Dayton Journal,
Apr. 5, 1913.
93. Ibid.
94. Patterson to the Chamber of Commerce of Springfield,
Ohio, Mar. 31, 1913, NCR Ar-

chives.
95. “If the Need Is Past—Return Supplies,” Dayton Journal,
Apr. 10, 1913.
96. “Money Grants to Families,” Dayton Daily News, Apr. 5,
1913.
97. Miss Mabel T. Boardman’s speech quoted in “Red Cross
Tells What Work It Is Doing:
Rehabilitation of Individuals and Families Goes On,” Boston
Evening Transcript, Apr. 5, 1913.
power will be given the workers . . . the reestablishment of this
market will
enable the merchant to reemploy his staff.”98 The policy of the
American
Red Cross was to provide funding to families in order to return
them to
“normal life” rather than public works projects.99 The normal
life consisted
of purchasing goods from local merchants, rather than being on
any kind
of dole. A banking expert who worked with the secretary of the
treasury
struck a similar chord when he proclaimed that “businessmen
are going to
make great profits, these will not be undue profits but all of the
house fur-
nishings, all of the necessities of life, that have been ruined by
the flood are
going to be replaced.”100 The CRC contributed to the
reestablishment of lo-
cal businesses by creating the Business Rehabilitation
Department. Grants

were provided to small businesses so they could rebuild and
restock.
The first wave of stores had opened just one week after the
flood, and the
momentum of developing the consumer economy continued in
the next two
weeks of the rehabilitation effort. Dayton’s periodicals hailed
their return as
a symbol of Dayton’s resiliency. Merchants and businessmen
worked hard to
reestablish the urban consumer economy. They had the
important duty of
supplying Gem City residents’ demand for cleaning products,
new clothes,
and housing materials. Fifty businesses opened on April 5, an
event that the
Dayton Journal saw as a rebirth of the city. Dayton’s
progressive spirit “is
evidenced in the fact that over half a hundred business houses
threw open
their doors to the public Friday morning.”101 On April 2, the
Louis Traxler
Company ran a banner “Don’t Worry: Dayton Will Get Bigger
and Better;
Get Busy.”102 Consumers braved the mud, cold weather, and
potential dis-
ease to shop downtown. One article reported that “Friday
Morning saw many
women in downtown store, there with evident purpose of
making purchases
of needed household supplies.”103 By April 7, the Dayton
Journal found that
businesses had provided an important level of normalcy: “The
restoration
of normal conditions was helped considerably by the opening of
several ice

cream parlors, candy stores, and lunch rooms all of which did
rushing busi-
ness.”104 On April 9, the Dayton Daily News published an in-
depth report,
determining that “there is no need for any Dayton family to go
outside of the
98. Ibid.
99. “Ohio Red Cross Will Give All to Families,” Dayton
100. “City Boosters Give Inspiring Messages,” Dayton Daily
News, Apr. 16, 1913.
101. “Opening of Half Hundred Downtown Stores Is Welcome
Sign in Dayton,” Dayton
102. “Hopeful Expressions Are Heard for a Bigger and Better
City Everywhere,” ibid., Apr.
2, 1913.
103. “Question of Sanitation Most Serious Problem,” Dayton
Daily News, Apr. 11, 1913.
104. “Dayton Cheerfully Emerging from the Wreck and Gloom
with Brightest Anticipa-
tion,” Dayton Journal, Apr. 7, 1913.
city for supplies. There now seems to be an abundance of food
in the groceries
and provision stores and all other lines are being replenished
rapidly as well.
A glance through the advertising columns of the Daily News is
inspiring.”105
The paper encouraged Gem City residents to make purchases in
Dayton, es-

pecially items for house repair. Later newspaper articles
reinforced the mes-
sage that money should be spent in Dayton. On April 17 the
Daily News told
residents about the merchants’ struggles to “overcome
difficulties has been
one of the striking accomplishments in this city of wonders,”
concluding that
“enterprise of this sort ought to be rewarded for its own
sake.”106
Beyond being a major part of outside aid and contributing to
the relief
effort, automobiles and trucks were important to the
rehabilitation effort.
As one article in the Boston American noted, these vehicles
were “the only
method of transportation, in as much as street cars, horses and
carriages had
been destroyed by high water.”107 The automobiles also moved
people of sta-
tus during rehabilitation efforts. Mrs. Eva Booth, a wealthy
woman interested
in donating money, was to leave Springfield on April 2 with a
party of seven
people and two automobiles.108 Patterson himself traveled in a
car with the
banner that read “commanding officer.” One of the most curious
contribu-
tions automobile drivers made to the rehabilitation effort was
compulsory.
On March 30, Patterson gave permission to Capt. H. B. Kirtland
to confiscate
privately owned automobiles for the rehabilitation effort, telling
him to “im-
press such automobiles and other transportation as it is not
covered by any

special pass.”109 Luckily, hundreds of automobile tourists
defied the governor’s
prohibition of sightseers and arrived in the city. Kirtland wrote
of the tourists,
“They were a nuisance. In costly machines filled with silver
thermos bottles,
packed with picnic luncheons, crowded with men in women in
holiday attire,
the lawless rich from 20 cities crowded their way through the
streets.”110 But
on the first day, Kirtland and his sixteen men confiscated 918
automobiles.111
According to Kirtland, the cars were used to move nurses and
refugees. The
CRC confiscated four Harley-Davidson motorcycles because
“the machines
owned by the riders were continually breaking down.”112 The
motorcycles
were used to ship both supplies and workers to sites of need.
The role the automobile played in the flood convinced L. E.
Olwell and
105. “An Incident That Speaks Volumes,” Dayton Daily News,
Apr. 9, 1913.
106. “A Long Pull, a Strong Pull and a Pull All Together,
Means ‘We Win,’” ibid., Apr. 17, 1913.
107. “Motor Trucks a Big Aid to the Dayton Flood Victims,”
Boston American, Apr. 6, 1913.
108. Mr. Bancroft to John Patterson, Mar. 29, 1913, NCR
Archives.
109. John Patterson to Captain H. B. Kirkland, Mar. 30, 1913,
NCR Archives.
111. Ibid.
112. The Citizens’ Relief Committee, Department of the
Distribution of Supplies memo,

Apr. 26, 1913, NCR Archives.
John Patterson that the machine could bring about a new age of
transporta-
tion in Dayton. Olwell, advertising manager of NCR, was
convinced that
“the great Ohio calamity pressed home the lesson that, at last,
the motor car
has demonstrated its right to rank as one of the greatest
agencies of prog-
ress and civilization. . . . In the absence of this great addition to
improved
machinery, the cries of imperiled thousands would have been
lifted in vain,
and countless lives that were saved would have been numbered
among the
dead.”113 Two days after Olwell’s statement, he received a
letter from John
Patterson arguing that the need for quick transportation was one
of the
most important lessons of the flood. “What Dayton [n]eeds
now,” Patterson
wrote, “is more terminals to accommodate merchants.” This
could be ac-
complished, Patterson suggested, by converting canals into
boulevards and
making better roads for automobiles. More terminals should
also be built to
help Dayton’s merchants unload their goods. But the most
important lesson
for Patterson was that “the automobile enables people to live in
the country

and do business in town. It annihilates distance and makes you
indepen-
dent of ordinary means of transportation.”114 Essentially, the
auto had the
potential to convert the rural dweller into an urban consumer.
The successful relief efforts in the Dayton flood of 1913 were a
result of
community organization and business efficiency. The most
important mea-
sures were taken by NCR’s John H. Patterson when he turned
his factory into
a relief station and used business methods to rehabilitate the
city. As a result
of the failed ward-based system of city government, on May 13,
1913, all fifteen
candidates who supported a commission-manager charter won
election to
the city council.115 But NCR’s efforts at relief were not total,
as the political
legacy suggests. Relief was organized from the top down by
Patterson and his
business partners as well as from the bottom up by civic
organizations, reli-
gious leaders, and local merchants. With NCR cut off from
certain sections
of the city, neighborhood organizations sprung into action to
provide relief,
food, and transportation. Technology and urban material culture
played im-
portant roles in making the bottom-up efforts more successful.
In addition,
downtown merchants worked quickly to meet the demand for
clean clothes,
cleaning services, and numerous household items. Their success
was not sim-
ply economic; the contribution of merchants made for a moral

and cultural
victory central to Dayton’s rebirth. The bottom-up efforts were
only enough
to sustain the relief effort for a limited amount of time,
however. NCR there-
after organized those community impulses and made them more
effective.
113. L. E. Olwell quoted in New York American, June 1, 1913,
and reprinted in Morgan, The
Miami Conservancy District, 72–73.
114. John Patterson to L. E. Olwell, Apr. 15, 1913, NCR
Archives.
Part 2:Provider Database (MS Access)Use the project
description HERE to complete this activity. For a review of the
complete rubric used in grading this exercise, click on the
Assignments tab, then on the title Case Study Part 2 - Provider
Database (Access)– click on Show Rubrics if the rubric is not
already displayed.
As you recall, data is a collection of facts (numbers, text, even
audio and video files) that is processed into usable information.
Much like a spreadsheet, a database is a collection of such facts
that you can then slice and dice in various ways to extract
information or make decisions. However, the advantage and
primary use of a database over a spreadsheet is its ability to
handle a large volume of data and yet allow for quick access to
the information that is desired.
Databases are everywhere now and impact our lives in a
multitude of ways. It can accurately be said that “your life is in
a database” or, more accurately, in multiple databases, and

information about you (a retrieval of facts about you) is easily
accessible. Your shopping history, credit history, medical
history, even your driving history, is stored in one or more
databases.
This exercise will introduce you to the basic building blocks of
any database – fields, records, and files (also called tables).
Although you will create a database with a single table
containing a small amount of data about computer component
Providers, the more applicable use of databases involves the
creation of many tables linked together with a common field or
“key.” Regardless of the size of the database, the data is stored
in the same way – in fields which are combined to create a
record. And those records are stored in a file or table. The data
is entered into the field via a data entry form, and the
information is extracted (to answer a particular question or
need) via reports and/or queries. Note that Access uses the
Field Size parameter in Design View to limit the number of
characters or digits in a given field. There is a small tutorial on
field sizes located in the topic "Optional Tutorial – Access
project" in the Readings list for Week 5.
Specific instructions for the project can be found in the table
below.
Create a provider database and related reports and queries to
capture contact information for potential PC component
providers that might be used to purchase the equipment your
specified in your MS Word project – the PC specifications. You
can use some actual PC suppliers in your table (Dell, Toshiba,
Best Buy, etc.). However, the contact information, addresses,
phone numbers, YTD orders, etc. can be fictional.
This MS Access database assignment has the following parts:
1. a simple database table to hold provider contact information;

some of the required fields in the table require that a Caption be
added to the field characteristics. The Caption will be displayed
in the report that is to be generated.
1. a simple database form that can be used to enter data into the
database table;
1. two simple database reports that can used to present the data
as information; and
1. a separate MS Word document answering questions about the
database.
All aspects of the assignment will be evaluated according to the
following criteria and overall professional, business-like
appearance. This would include clear readability and formatting
for both screen and print-based output.
Element #
Requirement
Points Allocated
Comments
01
· Launch MS Access and open a Blank Access database.
· Save the new database with the following name:
“Student’s First Initial Last Name Provider Information”
Example: JSmith Provider Information
0.05
Create a table with all the following fields and settings: (each
letter indicates a separate field)
Field names should be exactly as listed here (e.g. "Provider ID"
or "Provider's Company Name", etc.)
02
A. Provider ID (autonumber)
Set as primary key and is auto number
0.2
The Provider ID field must be set as the primary key (*). If the

Provider ID is not the primary key, 0.1 points will be deducted.
If you have properly set the Provider ID field as the primary
key, it will be numbered automatically (Auto Number).
03
B. Provider's Company Name (text)
0.1
04
Two separate fields:
C. Provider Contact-First Name (text)
D. Provider Contact-Last Name (text)
0.4
05
E. Billing Address (text)
(this is the street address)
F. City (text)
0.4
06
G. State (text—set the field size to 2 characters)
0.4
07
H. Zip Code (text—set the field size to 5 characters)
0.4
08
I.Phone number – area code (text— set the field size to 3
characters)
J. Phone number (text)
(Use xxx-xxxx format when entering the data)
0.5

09
K. YTD Orders (currency)
(Enter the total amount ($s) of orders your company has placed
with each provider. Use fictitious numbers.)
0.2
10
L. Preferred Provider (Yes/No)
(Criteria must be provided in the Description field (Design
View) which identifies what constitutes a Preferred Provider.
Base your criteria on a real YTD amount, e.g. YTD orders
greater than $10,000)
0.4
11
Review your table in Datasheet view. Make sure all fields
names are fully visible (no truncated entries)
0.1
12
Save the table with the name: Provider Information Table
0.05
13
Use the Form Wizard to create a form that uses all the fields
from the Provider Information Table.
0.2
Let the Form Wizard guide you through the completion of the
form
Use a Columnar layout.
14
Select a theme – do NOT use the default theme which is Office.
0.1

15
Name the form as follows:
Provider Data Entry Form
0.05
You should be finished with the form at this point. It is best if
you allow the Form Wizard to open the form to view and enter
information.
16
Ensure that all field names are fully visible in each field in
Form View (no truncated entries)
0.1
17
Use the form to enter data into the table
· Enter all the appropriate data for seven providers (such as Best
Buy, CDW, and CompUSA.)
· Mark at least one Provider as a Preferred Provider based on
the criteria you identified in the Preferred Provider field.
It is important to complete all data entry prior to moving on to
create the report. You should also use the table to manually
review and audit all entries to ensure accuracy and consistency
prior to report setup. If find any data entry errors or
inconsistencies, simply go back the item in the form and make
the appropriate corrections. Missing data or including data that
should be ignored will result in a deduction.
0.25
When you are finished, the Provider Information Table should
contain all the contact information for the providers. You may
need to create fictitious information for contact names –other
field information should be available from the provider's
company website. For YTD Orders simply input fictitious
values. Marking at least one provider as Preferred should be
based on criteria for YTD Orders (those that exceed a specified
YTD amount that you determine). That criteria must be included
in the field Description for Preferred Provider.
The form will automatically populate the Provider ID for you

because this is your primary key. Provider's Company Name
will be your seven providers.
18
Ensure that all entered data is fully visible in each field in
Datasheet View of the Provider Information Table (no truncated
entries)
0.1
19
Use the Report Wizard to create a report from the database that
uses the following fields, presented in the following order from
left to right in the final report:
· Provider's Company Name
· Provider Contact First and Last Name
· Complete Address (Street, City, State, Zip)
· Phone Number (including area code field)
0.2
Let the Report Wizard guide you through the completion of the
report.
Use Landscape orientation
Make sure that you do not select the Provider ID field.
20
· Set up the report to be sorted by Provider Contact-Last Name.
Ensure that the order of the fields is still the same as identified
above: company name, first name, last name, address, phone
number.
0.1
21
· Ensure that all field names and entered data are fully visible in
all areas of the report (no truncated entries)
· Select an appropriate style that improves readability

0.1
You must apply a style OTHER THAN the default style which is
the Office theme.
22
· Name the report as follows:
Provider Contact Information
Your report will include information for all your Providers.
0.05
After you name the report, you should allow the Report Wizard
to let you preview the report. If you created the report correctly,
you should see the items sorted alphabetically by Provider Last
Name. (Only one Provider Contact Information report should be
submitted for grading or points will be deducted.)
23
Create mailing labels for the provider list: Include
· Contact person’s full name
· full Provider's company name
· full mailing address.
Check the look of the report in Print view.
0.5
Be sure to view your mailing labels to ensure correct spacing of
the name, address. etc. The format should appear as a typical
address on an envelope.
24
· Save this report as "Provider Mailing Labels."
0.05
25
Create an MS Word document.
· Set it to
double space
normal text
Arial, 12 point.
Save the document as:
“First Initial Last Name Access Questions”

Example: JSmith Access Questions
Create a Title Page which shows your project title, your first
and last name, the course id and the due date. See comment to
the right for the project title.
In your MS Word document, answer both of these questions in 4
to 5 well written sentences.
Questions:
1. Your Director has approved the purchase of the computers
that you recommended in your response to the Case Study – Part
1, the specification for the computers. The data in this database
you created here is rather limited. What fields would you add to
the database you created in this project that would help you in
choosing a provider or providers to use to fulfill the purchases?
2. Could you use an Excel spreadsheet to replicate the same
activity that you completed for the Access database project?
What advantages ordisadvantages might using Excel have over
using Access in this Case Study?
.25 to .5 points can be deducted for typos or grammatical errors
1 point total
0.05/doc
0.05/title page
0.45/each question
The title must be
PC Specifications for the Director

by
[insert your first and last name]
[insert course id]
[insert due date]
When submitting your project, be sure to attach BOTH the
Access database (the table, form, and 2 reports will be included
in the single database file) AND the Word document which
contains answers to the two questions above.
TOTAL
6
Part 2:Alternate -Provider Database (Only for Open Office
users)Use the project description HERE to complete this
activity. For a review of the complete rubric used in grading
this exercise, click on the Assignments tab, then on the title
Case Study Part 2 - Provider Database (Access)– click on Show
Rubrics if the rubric is not already displayed. The grading
rubric has been built for use with MS Access. However, the
elements graded and the point value for each element is
identical for anyone using OO for this assignment. NOTE: there
are some great tutorials on working with OpenOffice which can
be found in the Content menu. Look for the Tutorials menu item
in the section under OpenOffice - Database Alternative for Mac
OS X.
As you recall, data is a collection of facts (numbers, text, even
audio and video files) that is processed into usable information.
Much like a spreadsheet, a database is a collection of such facts
that you can then slice and dice in various ways to extract
information or make decisions. However, the advantage and
primary use of a database over a spreadsheet is its ability to

handle a large volume of data and yet allow for quick access to
the information that is desired.
Databases are everywhere now and impact our lives in a
multitude of ways. It can accurately be said that “your life is in
a database” or, more accurately, in multiple databases, and
information about you (a retrieval of facts about you) is easily
accessible. Your shopping history, credit history, medical
history, even your driving history, is stored in one or more
databases.
This exercise will introduce you to the basic building blocks of
any database – fields, records, and files (also called tables).
Although you will create a database with a single table
containing a small amount of data about computer component
Providers, the more applicable use of databases involves the
creation of many tables linked together with a common field or
“key.” Regardless of the size of the database, the data is stored
in the same way – in fields which are combined to create a
record. And those records are stored in a file or table. The data
is entered into the field via a data entry form, and the
information is extracted (to answer a particular question or
need) via reports and/or queries. Specific instructions for the
project can be found in the table below.
Create a provider database and related reports and queries to
capture contact information for potential PC component
providers that might be used to purchase the equipment your
specified in your MS Word project – the PC specifications. You
can use some actual PC suppliers in your table (Dell, Toshiba,
Best Buy, etc.). However, the contact information, addresses,
phone numbers, YTD orders, etc. can be fictional.
This Open Office database assignment has the following parts:
1. a simple database table to hold provider contact information;

some of the required fields in the table require that a Caption be
added to the field characteristics. The Caption will be displayed
in the report that is to be generated.
1. a simple database form that can be used to enter data into the
database table;
1. a simple database report that can used to present the data as
information;
1. an OO document that contains mailing labels; and
1. a separate MS Word document answering questions about the
database.
All aspects of the assignment will be evaluated according to the
following criteria and overall professional, business-like
appearance. This would include clear readability and formatting
for both screen and print-based output.
Element #
Requirement
Points Allocated
Comments
01
· Launch Open Office, select Database and select the option to
Create a new database. You should "register the database," and
then select "Open for editing" on the next screen.
· Save the new database with the following name:
“Student’s First Initial Last Name Provider Information”
Example: JSmith Provider Information
Registering your database an internal registration that allows
functions such a labels to recognize and link to your database.
0.05
Use "Create table in Design View" to create a table with all the
following fields and settings: (each letter indicates a separate
field)
Field names should be exactly as listed here (e.g. "Provider ID"

or "Provider's Company Name", etc.)
02
A. Provider's Company Name (text)
0.1
03
B. Provider Contact-First Name (text)
C. Provider Contact-Last Name (text)
0.4
04
D. Billing Address (text)
(this is the street address)
E. City (text)
0.4
05
F. State (text— limit field size or length to 2 characters)
0.4
06
G. Zip Code (text—limit field size or length to 5 characters)
0.4
07
H.Phone number – area code (text— limit field size or length to
3 characters)
I. Phone number (text)
(Use xxx-xxxx format when entering the data)
0.5
08

J. YTD Orders (decimal – with decimal places allowed set to 2)
(Enter the total amount ($s) of orders your company has placed
with each provider. Use fictitious numbers.)
0.2
09
K. Preferred Provider (Yes/No)
(Criteria must be provided in the Description field (Design
View) which identifies what constitutes a Preferred Provider.
Base your criteria on a real YTD amount, e.g. YTD orders
greater than $10,000)
0.4
10
Save the table and name the table as follows: Provider
Information Table
0.05
11
When prompted to create a Primary Key, select Yes. Highlight
the table name and select Edit. Set the Field Properties of the
ID field name to AutoValue=Yes. Save the table again. The key
will automatically be called ID – do not change this.
You may also create the primary key using the instructions in
the Tutorial referenced above.
0.2
If you have properly set the ID field as the primary key, it will
be numbered automatically (Auto Number) and display as
<Field> in the form.
12
Review your table in Datasheet view. Make sure all fields
names are fully visible (no truncated entries)
0.1
13

Use the Form Wizard to create a form that uses all the fields
from the Provider Information Table.
0.2
Let the Form Wizard guide you through the completion of the
form
.
14
Apply a Style (do not use the default)
0.1
15
Name the form as follows:
Provider Data Entry Form
0.05
You should be finished with the form at this point. It is best if
you allow the Form Wizard to open the form to view and enter
information.
16
Ensure that all field names are fully visible in each field in
Form View (no truncated entries)
0.1
17
Use the form to enter data into the table
· Enter all the appropriate data for seven providers (such as Best
Buy, CDW, and CompUSA.)
· Mark at least one Provider as a Preferred Provider based on
the criteria you identified in the Preferred Provider field.
It is important to complete all data entry prior to moving on to
create the report. You should also use the table to manually
review and audit all entries to ensure accuracy and consistency
prior to report setup. If find any data entry errors or
inconsistencies, simply go back the item in the form and make
the appropriate corrections. Missing data or including data that
should be ignored will result in a deduction.

0.25
When you are finished, the Provider Information Table should
contain all the contact information for seven providers. You
may need to create fictitious information for contact names –
other field information should be available from the provider's
company website. For YTD Orders simply input fictitious
values. Marking at least one provider as Preferred should be
based on criteria for YTD Orders (those that exceed a specified
YTD amount that you determine). That criteria must be included
in the field Description for Preferred Provider.
The form will automatically populate the Provider ID for you
because this is your primary key. Provider's Company Name
will be your seven providers.
18
Ensure that all entered data is fully visible in each field in
Datasheet View of the Provider Information Table (no truncated
entries)
0.1
19
Use the Report Wizard to create a report from the database that
uses the following fields:
· Provider's Company Name
· Provider Contact First and Last Name
· Complete Address (Street, City, State, Zip)
· Phone Number (including area code field)
0.2
Let the Report Wizard guide you through the completion of the
report.
Use Landscape orientation
Make sure that you do not select the Provider ID field.
20
· Set up the report to be sorted by Provider Contact-Last Name.
0.1

21
· Ensure that all field names and entered data are fully visible in
all areas of the report (no truncated entries)
· Select an appropriate layout that improves readability
· Create the report as a Static report
0.1
You must apply a style OTHER THAN the default style which is
the Office theme.
22
· Name the report as follows:
Provider Contact Information
Your report will include information for all your Providers.
0.05
After you name the report, you should allow the Report Wizard
to let you preview the report. If you created the report correctly,
you should see the items sorted alphabetically by Provider Last
Name. (Only one Provider Contact Information report should be
submitted for grading or points will be deducted.)
23
Create mailing labels for the provider list: Include
· Contact person’s full name
· full Provider's company name
· full mailing address.
It is strongly suggested that you use the Help menu (the blue
question mark) and search for labels (Creating and Printing
Labels and Business Cards) under the Index. See also the
Related topic, Printing Address Labels on that same Help page.
You do not need to print the labels, but here is where you can
see whether your labels look correct (Open PDF in Preview).
0.5
Be sure to view your mailing labels to ensure correct spacing of
the name, address. etc. The format should appear as a typical

address on an envelope.
24
· Save this report as "Provider Mailing Labels."
0.05
25
Create an MS Word document.
· Set it to
double space
normal text
Arial, 12 point.
Save the document as:
“First Initial Last Name Access Questions”
Example: JSmith Access Questions
Create a Title Page which shows your project title, your first
and last name, the course id and the due date. See comment to
the right for the project title.
In your MS Word document, answer both of these questions in 4
to 5 well written sentences.
Questions:
1. Your Director has approved the purchase of the computers
that you recommended in your response to the Case Study – Part
1, the specification for the computers. The data in this database
you created here is rather limited. What fields would you add to
the database you created in this project that would help you in
choosing a provider or providers to use to fulfill the purchases?
2. Could you use an Excel spreadsheet to replicate the same
activity that you completed for the Access database project?
What advantages or disadvantages might using Excel have over
using Access in this Case Study?
.25 to .5 points can be deducted for typos or grammatical errors
1 point total

0.05/doc
0.05/title page
0.45/each question
The title must be
PC Specifications for the Director
by
[insert your first and last name]
[insert course id]
[insert due date]
When submitting your project, be sure to attach BOTH the OO
database (the table, form, and report will be included in the
single database file) AND the two documents (one an OO
document containing mailing labels and a Word document
which contains answers to the two questions above).
TOTAL
6
THE CONTROL OF RIVER FLOODS WITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO THE MIAMI CONSERVANCY
DISTRICT OF OHIO."
BY

CHARLES H. PAUL, C.E .
Chief Engineer, The Miami Conservancy District, Dayton . Ohio
.
EARLY HISTORY.
PROBLEMS of protection from floods were encountered with
the first occupation of river valleys in prehistoric days . The
ancients exercised a measure of control over the Euphrates, the
Tigris, and the Nile, by levees and by deflecting parts of the
flood
waters into depressions in the desert . These early works were
tied up with irrigation works to a large extent, and it is hard to
say which, in those days, was considered most important .
As civilization developed and property increased in value, the
problem of flood protection has assumed more and more impor-
tance . European engineers, in the early days, studied methods
of controlling the periodic overflow of their rivers, especially in
the rich broad valleys of central France and Germany, and as
early as the year 171 1 retarding basins were used for flood
control
purposes . At that time, two rubble masonry dams were con-
structed across the valley of the Loire River in central France .
The upper one, at Pinay, has its crest about fifty-six feet above
low water . At river bed elevation there is an opening or vertical
slot about sixty-four feet wide, reaching the full height of the
dam. About four miles downstream is another similar dam built
to supplement the controlling action of the first . These two
dams,
which have been in use for more than two hundred years, are
still
in operation, and records show that they have justified their
existence during many large floods on the Loire River,
particularly

those of 1790, 1846, t8g6, 1866 and ¶907 . Many other dams
forming retarding basins for flood control have been built in
France, Germany and Austria . Some of these are for flood con-
trol only, and some for the combined purpose of flood control
and
* Presented at a joint meeting of the Institute and the
Philadelphia Section,
American Society of Civil Engineers, held Thursday, March 13,
1924 .
162
CHARLES II . PAUL .
IJ . F . I .
storage . A list t has been published, giving some of the better-
known retarding basin projects for flood control, in actual use,
up to the year 1920 . That list shows forty-five in Europe, one
in
India, and five in the United States, not including the works of
the Miami Conservancy District .
The attempts at flood control by levees in China, dating back
to ancient times, are too well known to require more than
passing
mention. Levee systems have been used in many places in
Europe,
particularly along the Seine, the Loire and the Rhone rivers in
France . There are 322 miles of levees along the Po River in
Italy, which was the first river in Europe to be leveed . There is

no doubt that along with the early levee systems for flood
control,
a certain amount of channel enlargement was carried on to
accom-
plish the same purpose. Here again, some of the channel
improve-
ment and levee systems were built exclusively for flood control,
and some for the combined purposes of flood control, and
channel
regulation, or improvement for navigation .
In our own country the work of the Mississippi River Com-
mission is the outstanding example of flood control on a large
scale by levees . A combination of levees and dredging is a
com-
mon solution of flood problems in many parts of the United
States, and while retarding basin control had not been practised
extensively in this country before the works of the Miami Con-
servancy District were built, still there were several relatively
small retarding basin projects which had been in operation for a
number of years.
THE :913 FLOOD.
The flood of March, 1913, in the Miami valley, was not only
the most severe of which there is any record in that valley, but,
as regards damage, was the greatest that has occurred in the
eastern half of the United States since the days of first
settlement .
A complete description of this flood and the damage which it
wrought has been published in one of the Technical Reports of
the Miami Conservancy District . 2 The flood was caused
princi-
pally by hard rains which commenced on March 23rd, and
contin-
ued with scarcely any interruption until the 27th . As a result of

'The Miami Conservancy District Technical Report, Part 7,
"Hydraulics
of Miami Flood Control Project," p . 49 .
'Technical Report, Part I, "The Miami Valley and the 1913
Flood ."
Aug., 1924 .1
CONTROL OF RiVER FLOODS .
163
previous rains the soil was saturated, and this increased the
runoff
to the extent that during the latter part of the storm the runoff
was
too per cent . of the rainfall . The drainage area of the Miami
River system is about 3600 square miles, of such size and shape
that a heavy storm of intense rainfall may centre over it, and
tinder certain conditions may result in a runoff practically equal
to
the rainfall, as was the case in 1913 .
In the building of cities, railroads, and bridges, and in locating
improvements near rivers, the usual high-water stages are taken
into account . It has frequently been assumed that past floods,
with perhaps a little estimated increase, are a reliable criterion
of
what may happen in the future . The fallacy of this reasoning
for districts where records are available only over short periods,

was well illustrated in the Miami valley during the flood of
1913 .
Levees and bridges had been built there to accommodate the
largest flood that had occurred during the forty years or so that
records were available . The water in Dayton during the crest of
the 1913 flood stood about six feet higher than the tops of those
levees . Not a bridge across the river was passable, many of
them
were washed out entirely . Nearly four times as much water
came
down the river as the leveed channel could carry . Large parts of
the business and residential districts of the city were
overflowed
to depths up to twelve feet . Similar conditions existed in the
other cities and towns throughout the valley .
The loss of life is not definitely known, but has been esti-
mated at about 400 . Property loss has been estimated at about
$too,ooo,ooo . It is not easy to make a reliable estimate of loss
in such cases . The indirect losses, from a disaster of this sort,
are often fully as important as the direct losses . Subsequent
deaths result from exposure and shock, or in other cases health
is permanently broken. Depreciation of property values, inter-
ruption of business, loss of customers, loss of time and energy
in cleaning out mud and water, are hard to translate into
money values .
Many buildings were entirely destroyed ; in Hamilton 200
residences were washed away and carried down the river ; in
both
Dayton and Hamilton the flood was accompanied by fire, and
many buildings were burned . Large areas of asphalt street sur-
faces were peeled off and carried away ; tiled floors inside store

164
CHARLES H. PAUL .
[J.F.1 .
buildings were torn up and destroyed ; sewers, gas mains and
water pipes were filled with stud ; in some places where the
current
was swift, streets were washed out several feet deep ; in other
places gravel and debris were piled up on the streets and in the
yards to a considerable depth. Every railroad bridge, on a Too-
mile stretch of river, was wholly or partly destroyed, and more
than half of the highway bridges were also taken out.
The water of the river, during the flood, carried a heavy load
of silt . As the flood waters broke in windows and doors, and
flowed through buildings, the current was checked inside the
rooms, and much of the silt settled to the floors or in the cracks
.
This process continued as long as the flood lasted . As a result,
every crack and opening in floors, walls, or furniture, was filled
with this sticky, slimy mud. On the floors of the houses, it lay
from a few inches to a foot or more deep .
ORGANIZATION OF THE MIAMI CONSERVANCY
DISTRICT .
Relief committees were organized in the different cities of the
valley immediately after the flood, and plans for the prevention
of future floods began to be formulated . Within sixty days after
the flood had passed, and while people were still overwhelmed
with the problems of their own personal losses, a fund of more
than $2,ooo,ooo was subscribed, in the City of Dayton alone,

for
the purpose of making investigations and studying the problem
of
flood prevention for the city. Each community worked inde-
pendently at first, the thought being that the desired results
could
be accomplished by channel enlargement or relocation, and
levee
improvement. It was not long after the beginning of a
systematic
Study of the problem, however, that it became apparent that
channel improvement alone, to the extent required, was not
prac-
ticable. The next thought was for retarding basins . Fortunately,
there were suitable sites, along the upper reaches of the rivers,
where retarding basins could be formed at not too great expense
.
It was apparent, however, that while channel enlargement by
itself
would not be sufficient, still a large measure of relief could be
obtained at moderate expense by cleaning out bars and islands,
strengthening levees and raising them a limited amount, improv-
ing channel alignment, and paving slopes where required . A
cer-
tain amount of this work would give better returns for the
money
Aug., 19241
CONTROL Or RIVER FLOODS .

165
spent than if retarding basin control were used exclusively .
The final solution of the problem, therefore, was a combination
of channel improvement and retarding basins, so adjusted as to
capacities as to give the necessary control at the lowest cost .
This naturally pointed to the fact that one city alone could do
little along this line by itself, and that it was a job for the
people
of the whole valley to undertake as a unit . Then followed prob-
lems of organization, securing public support, questions of
legis-
lation, adjustment of conflicting interests-problems in human
engineering, which were no small part of the whole big job of
securing the necessary flood protection . Under the Ohio laws
there was no practical way for the people of the valley to
organize
for this particular purpose, and it became necessary therefore to
enact legislation which would provide for such organization.
The
Conservancy Act of Ohio, passed in 1914, was the result of this
effort, and paved the way for the organization of the Miami
Conservancy District, which was effected soon thereafter .
ENGINEERING STUDIES .
In the meantime, while the necessary legislation was being
prepared, the engineering investigations were going on and data
were being collected and recorded, leading up to the studies for
this comprehensive plan . Fortunately, the engineers were called
in only a short time after the flood had passed, when high-water
marks and certain other precise records were still obtainable.
The
vast quantity of data collected included typical cross-sections of
old channels ; levee profiles ; cross-sections of the valleys at

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