FISHOOON! — a BabyBull fishing publication • Southwest Ohio
River history + current change

Stories From the Great Miami

Real river stories worth reading — not SEO filler.

Drowning Machine: Deaths, Rescues & a Miracle Survivor

The human history behind Hamilton’s low dam — including the 2003 double fatality, firefighter Chris Gabbard’s extraordinary 2007 survival, a 1989 helicopter rescue, and the modern push to change the river.

Read the Hamilton low dam story →

2026

Hamilton Low Dam: The River Is About to Change

$2.45M in H2Ohio funding launched design and technical evaluation.

1913

The Flood That Changed the Miami Valley

Nine to eleven inches of rain in three days overwhelmed the watershed. Hamilton lost all four river bridges.

1791

Fort Hamilton: A City Begins on the River

Fort Hamilton was built on the banks of the Great Miami during St. Clair’s 1791 campaign.

1819

The Sea Serpent

Thomas Kelsey and inventor Daniel French tried to build a shallow-water steamboat for the Great Miami. It never fulfilled the dream.

Early trade

Wheat, Pork and Whiskey to New Orleans

Hamilton merchants used the river as part of a freight route toward the Ohio and Mississippi systems.

1752

Pickawillany Before Ohio

A major Myaamia settlement and British trading post near present-day Piqua became a flashpoint in imperial competition.

Canal era

The Miami & Erie Canal

The 274-mile canal connected Cincinnati and Toledo. The 1913 flood devastated locks, banks and aqueducts.

1989

The Miamitown Bridge Collapse

A temporary U.S. 52 bridge section fell about 40 feet into the rain-swollen Great Miami. Two people died.

1860

The Eldean Covered Bridge

One of the finest surviving Long-truss bridges still spans the Great Miami north of Troy.

Comeback

From Working River to Living River

Pollution controls, restoration and recreation have changed the river’s role in the region.

Flood protection

Five Dry Dams and “Never Again”

The Miami Conservancy District’s flood system grew directly from the catastrophe of 1913.

Fishooon.net tells the fishing stories. BabyBull handles the gear.