The Little Miami River ( sjw, Cakimiyamithiipi) is a
Class I tributary of the
Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
that flows
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
, accessed May 26, 2011 through five counties in southwestern
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The Little Miami joins the
Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
east of
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
. It forms parts of the borders between
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
and
Clermont counties and between Hamilton and
Warren
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...
counties. The Little Miami River is one of 156 American rivers designated by the U.S. Congress or the Secretary of the Interior as a
National Wild and Scenic River
The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...
and lends its name to the adjacent
Little Miami Scenic Trail
The Little Miami Scenic Trail is the fourth longest paved trail in the United States, running through five southwestern counties in the state of Ohio. The multi-use rail trail sees heavy recreational use by hikers and bicyclists, as well as the ...
.
Hydrography
![MiamiRivers watershed](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/MiamiRivers_watershed.png)
The Little Miami River is a tributary of the Ohio River. It is part of a
watershed that drains a area in 11 southwestern Ohio counties:
Clark
Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...
,
Montgomery,
Madison Madison may refer to:
People
* Madison (name), a given name and a surname
* James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States
Place names
* Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...
,
Greene
Greene may refer to:
Places United States
*Greene, Indiana, an unincorporated community
*Greene, Iowa, a city
*Greene, Maine, a town
** Greene (CDP), Maine, in the town of Greene
*Greene (town), New York
** Greene (village), New York, in the town ...
,
Warren
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...
,
Butler,
Clinton,
Clermont,
Brown
Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...
, and
Highland
Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...
.
The river discharges on average into the Ohio River.
An average of flow through the river proper; after heavy rains, the river flow may rise to .
Tributaries of the Little Miami include Beaver Creek, Sugar Creek, the East Fork Little Miami, North Fork, Todd's Fork, Duck Creek, Caesar Creek, Massie Creek, and
Turtle Creek. Yellow Springs Creek, fed in part by its tributary Birch Creek, join the Little Miami within the boundary of the
Glen Helen Nature Preserve
The Glen Helen Nature Preserve is a nature reserve immediately east of Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. The initial 700-acre parcel was given to Antioch College by Hugh Taylor Birch in memory of his daughter Helen Birch Bartlet in 1929, and i ...
. The river's main tributary, the East Fork of the Little Miami,
was dammed in 1977 by the
to create Harsha Lake, located in
East Fork State Park
East Fork State Park is public recreation area located around the East Fork of the Little Miami River in Clermont County, southeast of central Cincinnati, Ohio, in the United States. It maintains the 33-mile "Steve Newman World-Walker" perimet ...
. Similarly, in 1973, the Army Corps dammed Caesar Creek to create Caesar Creek Lake, located in
Caesar Creek State Park
Caesar Creek State Park is a public recreation area located in southwestern Ohio, five miles (8 km) east of Waynesville, in Warren, Clinton, and Greene counties. The park is leased by the State from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who ...
.
The river's headwaters, considered part of the North Fork, are located about from
South Charleston in Clark County,
near
Plattsburgh
Plattsburgh ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is a city in, and the seat of, Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding ...
.
The river empties into the Ohio River at
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, a neighborhood of Cincinnati in Hamilton County.
Between the headwaters and the mouth, there is a decrease in elevation.
History
The Little Miami River is named for the
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
, an
Algonquian-speaking
Native American people who lived in the region during the early days of white settlement. Historically, the river formed the eastern boundary of the
Symmes Purchase and the western boundary of the
Virginia Military District
The Virginia Military District was an approximately 4.2 million acre (17,000 km²) area of land in what is now the state of Ohio that was reserved by Virginia to use as payment in lieu of cash for its veterans of the American Revolutionary ...
.
In 1967 The Ohio University Development Planning Institute (Athens, Ohio) published "The Little Miami of Ohio; A Study of a Wild and Scenic River". This 56-page booklet, illustrated with maps and black and white photographs, first presented the idea of a corridor of parks and natural areas along the river.
In June 1967 Dayton newspaper editor Glenn Thompson would bring together educator Arthur Morgan, business leader Charles Sawyer, and outdoor enthusiast Corwin Fred to form Little Miami Incorporated, dedicated to the preservation of the Little Miami River. Mr. Thompson was the editor of the Dayton Journal-Herald in the late 1950s, and a strong advocate for the preservation of green space in the Miami Valley. The members of the newly formed Little Miami Incorporated would convince Ohio Congressman Clarence Brown to ask for inclusion of the Little Miami in the final list of 27 rivers to be studied for a proposed Scenic Rivers Bill.
The 1968 Wild and Scenic River Act designated portions of the Little Miami National Scenic River as Ohio's first
National Wild and Scenic River
The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...
. On April 23 of following year, the Little Miami State Scenic River from
Milford Milford may refer to:
Place names Canada
* Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia
* Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia
* Milford, Ontario
England
* Milford, Derbyshire
* Milford, Devon, a place in Devon
* Milford on Sea, Hampshire
* Milford, Shro ...
to the headwaters became Ohio's first State Scenic River, due to legislation that predated the national act by a few months.
The remainder of the river was added to the State Scenic River in 1971.
Hydropower
Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...
of the Little Miami River was developed into the largest privately owned
ammunition manufacturing center between
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
and the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
.
Company towns for the
Miami Powder Company and
Peters Cartridge Company
The Peters Cartridge Company was a company located along the Little Miami River in Kings Mills, Ohio, which specialized in gunpowder and ammunition production. Founded in 1887 by Gershom Moore Peters, the company supplied military ammunition to va ...
were built at
Goes Station
Goes Station (also known as Goes) is a small unincorporated area, unincorporated community in northern Xenia Township, Greene County, Ohio, Xenia Township, Greene County, Ohio, Greene County, Ohio, United States. It sits at the intersection of Sni ...
and
Kings Mills, respectively. The portion of Peters Cartridge Company factory on the opposite side of the river from Kings Mills in
Hamilton Township, which closed in 1944 and is now owned by
DuPont
DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
, was declared a
Superfund site in 1996. Since then, studies by the
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) is the administrative department of the Ohio state government Ohio Rev. Code § 121.01 ''et seq.'' responsible for protecting the environment and public health by ensuring compliance with envir ...
have established that the site no longer poses an environmental hazard to the nearby river.
Even so, the site was listed as a
Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) site by the
Environmental Protection Agency in April 2012 for copper, lead and mercury soil contamination. In September 2018, 15 acres of the 71-acre site was removed for the NPL after successful cleanup goals were achieved.
EPA's Superfund Site Information for PETERS CARTRIDGE FACTORY
Environmental Protection Agency
Ecology
The Little Miami River is home to at least 87 species of fish, as well as many species of turtles, frogs, water snakes, birds, mammals and invertebrates. The river contains 36 species of mussel
Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...
s, including two threatened species
Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of '' critical depen ...
, one of which is endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
. Ohio considers five of the species to be endangered. Recently, zebra mussel
The zebra mussel (''Dreissena polymorpha'') is a small freshwater mussel. The species originates from the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, but has been accidentally introduced to numerous other areas and has become an invasive species in ma ...
s and Asiatic clams have crowded out native species.
The river is protected by a number of nature preserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...
s owned by Little Miami Inc., as well as by state and local parks (see below).
Recreation
The Little Miami River is a National Scenic River. A series of state and county parks and bike trails have been built along the river, primarily the Little Miami Scenic Trail
The Little Miami Scenic Trail is the fourth longest paved trail in the United States, running through five southwestern counties in the state of Ohio. The multi-use rail trail sees heavy recreational use by hikers and bicyclists, as well as the ...
, which is concurrent with the Buckeye Trail
The Buckeye Trail is a hiking trail and long-distance trail that loops around the state of Ohio. Part of it is on roads and part is on wooded trail. Road portions of the trail are gradually being relocated to separate trail.
This trail p ...
and Little Miami Scenic State Park. Most of these trails have been built along the abandoned rail grades that run along the river (see Rail trail
A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...
). The Ohio to Erie Trail
The Ohio to Erie Trail is a dedicated multi-use trail for non-motorized vehicles that traverses the U.S. state of Ohio, from southwest to northeast, crossing of regional parks, nature preserves, and rural woodland. Construction began in 1991, wi ...
project, under construction, aims to link these trails to other trails statewide to create a single bike trail from Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...
to the Ohio River.
The Little Miami is also popular among canoers and anglers. There are several canoe liveries along its course and the smallmouth bass fishing in the river is among the best in the state. For a river its size and considering that it drains mainly agricultural land, the water quality of the Little Miami River is excellent. Visitors may see a variety of wildlife including several varieties of turtles, mallards
The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argen ...
, and other ducks, Canada geese
The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), or Canadian goose, is a large wild goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is o ...
and blue herons.
Places and point of interest
The following places, towns, and points of interest are located on the Little Miami starting at the headwaters in Clark County and proceeding down the river to its mouth on the Ohio River.
* Clark County – Headwaters of river
* Greene County, Ohio
Greene County is located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 167,966. Its county seat is Xenia. The county was established on March 24, 1803 and named for General Nathanael Greene ...
** Clifton
Clifton may refer to:
People
*Clifton (surname)
*Clifton (given name)
Places
Australia
* Clifton, Queensland, a town
**Shire of Clifton
*Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong
*Clifton, Western Australia
Canada
*Clifton, Nova Scotia ...
and Clifton Mill
** John Bryan State Park
John Bryan State Park, in Greene County, Ohio, is a state park, of . It surrounds Clifton Gorge, a deep cut of the Little Miami River, between Yellow Springs and Clifton. The park contains a campground, and hiking and biking trails. The park als ...
and Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve
Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve, in Greene County, Ohio, is located three miles east of Yellow Springs, Ohio, and immediately southwest of Clifton, Ohio. The preserve constitutes 268 acres of gorges along two miles of the Little Miami River. ...
** Yellow Springs and Glen Helen Nature Preserve
The Glen Helen Nature Preserve is a nature reserve immediately east of Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. The initial 700-acre parcel was given to Antioch College by Hugh Taylor Birch in memory of his daughter Helen Birch Bartlet in 1929, and i ...
** Beavercreek Township
** Sugarcreek Township
** Bellbrook
** Spring Valley
* Warren County Warren County is the name of fourteen counties in the USA. Some are named after General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War:
* Warren County, Georgia
* Warren County, Illinois
* Warren County ...
** Waynesville
** Corwin
** Caesar Creek Gorge – mouth of Caesar Creak leading to Caesar Creek Gorge and Lake.
** Oregonia
** Mathers Mill – canoe livery, public access
** Jeremiah Morrow Bridge
The Jeremiah Morrow Bridge is the name for a pair of concrete box girder bridges built between 2010 and 2016 which carry Interstate 71 over the Little Miami River gorge between Fort Ancient and Oregonia, Ohio. The bridges are named for former Go ...
– Interstate 71 bridge crossing over the river valley
** Fort Ancient
Fort Ancient is a name for a Native American culture that flourished from Ca. 1000-1750 CE and predominantly inhabited land near the Ohio River valley in the areas of modern-day southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, southeastern Indiana and western ...
– canoe livery, public access
** Morrow
Morrow is a word meaning "the next day" in literary English. It also means "morning" in archaic English
Morrow may also refer to:
Places in the United States and Canada United States
* Morrow, Arkansas
*Morrow, Georgia
* Morrow, Louisiana
*Morr ...
– canoe livery, mouth of Todds Fork tributary
** South Lebanon
Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa Districts, the southernmost distric ...
** Kings Mills – historic Peters Cartridge factory
** Fosters – historic settlement & public access
* Clermont County east side of river, Hamilton County west side of river
** Chateau LaRoche Museum, also known as Loveland Castle (Hamilton County)
** Loveland – canoe livery (Hamilton and Clermont County)
** Lake Isabella, Ohio – (Hamilton County Park)
** Milford Milford may refer to:
Place names Canada
* Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia
* Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia
* Milford, Ontario
England
* Milford, Derbyshire
* Milford, Devon, a place in Devon
* Milford on Sea, Hampshire
* Milford, Shro ...
– (Clermont County)
* Hamilton County
** Terrace Park
** Mariemont
** Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
** Lunken Field
Cincinnati Municipal Airport – Lunken Field (Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport) is a public airport in Cincinnati, Ohio, three miles (5 km) east of Downtown Cincinnati. It is owned by the city of Cincinnati and serves private aircr ...
– Cincinnati Municipal Airport is along the bank of the river
** Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
– mouth of the Little Miami River
See also
* Great Miami River
The Great Miami River (also called the Miami River) (Shawnee: ''Msimiyamithiipi'') is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accesse ...
* List of rivers of Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes region of the United States. The state takes its name from the Ohio River, whose name in turn originated from the Seneca word '' ohiːyo, meaning "good river", "great river" or "large creek". The Ohi ...
* Little Miami Railroad
The Little Miami Railroad was a railway of southwestern Ohio, running from the eastern side of Cincinnati to Springfield, Ohio. By merging with the Columbus and Xenia Railroad in 1853, it created the first through-rail route from the important ma ...
* Little Miami Bike Trail
References
External links
Buckeye Trail
Loveland Bike Trail
Ohio to Erie Trail
Little Miami, Inc.
(LMI), a non-profit conservation group
{{authority control
Rivers of Ohio
Tributaries of the Ohio River
Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States
Rivers of Clark County, Ohio
Rivers of Clermont County, Ohio
Rivers of Hamilton County, Ohio
Rivers of Greene County, Ohio
Rivers of Warren County, Ohio