It’s important for us here in Clark County — particularly Springfield and the southwestern corner of the county — to remember that the disaster extended up the Mad River. Our flooding was not as extensive as in Dayton, but Clark County saw casualties and damage.
As the low areas around Dayton filled, the rain water flowing down the Mad River, Buck Creek, Donnels Creek, Mud Run and Honey Creek had no place to go but over the banks and onto farmland. The result was the biggest flood in Clark County history.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, which measures the Mad River water levels at the bridge near the intersection of Lower Valley Pike, U.S. 40 and Ohio 4, the depth of the Mad River on March 25, 1913, at that location was 16.9 feet.
Last summer on Aug. 26, the river’s historic low point was 9 inches at the same point. What a difference a century makes.
The 1913 flood fascinated me when we first moved here. I had interviewed Allan W. Eckert for a magazine article and we spoke for a while about his Pulitzer Prize-nominated book, “A Time of Terror: the Great Dayton Flood.”
Later on, when we became friends, he told me more about his research while we hunted for fossils along another river.
Eckert had written the book in 1964 when he was a newspaper reporter in Dayton. It was only 51 years after the flood and he had been able to interview many people who had lived through the disaster.
I found the book and his stories mesmerizing. He said that he’d written that book so the people of Dayton wouldn’t forget the flood and the heroes who had saved so many. The stories had to be told.
I couldn’t help but wonder what happened here in our Clark County towns and townships. Allan had concentrated on the Dayton area so he told me to first check out the Springfield newspaper reports.
There I learned of extensive flooding along Buck Creek in the area of Snyder Park.
Remember, that was before the dams were built to control the creek.
The Mad River had raged north of Springfield and below Springfield toward Dayton, where large areas of Bethel and Mad River twps. were flooded.
I also wondered if anyone was still living who remembered it.
At that time — 85 years after the flood — I was lucky to find four local residents to interview. Thelma Ingle, Martha Blakely Hahn, and J.J. and Kathryn Beard Arthur. All have since then passed on, but I will always remember what they told me.
Thelma Welker Ingle was 11 years old and lived along the northern bank of the Mad River on a farm with her parents, John and Amanda Welker; older brother, Clinton; and younger sister, Freda. They had learned how to handle floods over the years, but in 1913 the rising brown waters quickly became dangerous. She remembered moving things upstairs and trying to save the farm animals.
Her father, John Welker, put the new calves into the silo where they were a bit higher. They called to their mothers who stood around the silo mooing. As the flood waters rose the cows refused to leave their crying babies and swam circles around the silo.
The Humphrey brothers from a neighboring — and higher — farm rode draft horses across flooded fields to evacuate the family, but her parents stayed behind to save as many of the farm animals as they could.
Thelma remembered clinging to the neck of a draft horse as the flood waters nearly washed her off its back. Her parents and most of the livestock made it through the flood, but they lost five cows and 100 chickens.
She also remembered the difficult clean up. The bottom floor of the house had more than a foot of silty water. She also clearly remembered her mother’s distress over the ornate metal sewing machine table legs that were difficult to clean.
Martha Blakely Hahn was only 4 years old when was carried out of her house on the north side of Mad River in Bethel Twp., just down the road from the Welker farm.
“The water was so deep and my dad carried me through the water up to his hips. It scared me so bad, and I think that is why I’ve always been afraid of water,” said Hahn in a 1998 interview.
Next week, I’ll write about what happened across the Mad River from the Welker and Blakely farms and in a few other nearby places.
Meanwhile, I recommend that anyone who wants to know more about the flood should read Eckert’s book. It’s amazing to think that such a disaster happened in our area. This book can be found in most of our local libraries.
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