Great Dayton Flood - Historical Losses

Historical Losses

Orville and Wilbur Wright, who made their home in Dayton, had flown for the first time a decade earlier, and were busy creating the aviation industry in their workshop and the area around Huffman Prairie, adjacent to the planned Huffman Dam. They had meticulously documented the flight efforts using a camera, and had an extensive collection of photographic plates. One unexpected loss in the flood was water damage which created cracks and blemishes on the photographic plates. Prints made from the plates prior to the flood were better quality than the prints made after the flood. However, few prints had been made off of the glass negatives before 1913, as the Wrights kept evidence of their pioneering work a secret from the public and the images, and thus those that were lost in the flood were irreplaceable.

By this time, there were few canals in Ohio still in operation, but many of them remained intact across the state. To alleviate flooding conditions, local government leaders used dynamite to remove the locks in the canals to allow the water to flow unimpeded. This destruction ended the era of canal transportation in Ohio history.