The Mad River is a stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

 located in the west central part of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

. It flows 66 miles (106.2 km) from Logan County

Logan County, Ohio

Logan County is a county in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 45,858. The county seat is Bellefontaine. The county is named for Benjamin Logan, who fought Native Americans in the area....

 to downtown Dayton

Dayton, Ohio

Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...

, where it meets the Great Miami River

Great Miami River

The Great Miami River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long, in southwestern Ohio in the United States...

. The stream flows southwest from its source

Source (river or stream)

The source or headwaters of a river or stream is the place from which the water in the river or stream originates.-Definition:There is no universally agreed upon definition for determining a stream's source...

 near Campbell Hill through West Liberty

West Liberty, Ohio

West Liberty is a village in Logan County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,813 at the 2000 census.-Geography:West Liberty is located at ....

, along U.S. Route 68

U.S. Route 68

U.S. Route 68 is an east–west United States highway that runs for from northwest Ohio to western Kentucky. The highway's western terminus is at U.S. Route 62 in Reidland, Kentucky. Its eastern terminus is at Interstate 75 in Findlay, Ohio...

 west of Urbana

Urbana, Ohio

Urbana is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Ohio, United States, west of Columbus. Urbana was laid out in 1805, and for a time in 1812 was the headquarters of the Northwestern army. Urbana was named after the town of Urbanna, Virginia. It is the burial-place of the Indian fighter...

, past Springfield

Springfield, Ohio

Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek and Beaver Creek, approximately west of Columbus and northeast of Dayton. Springfield is home to Wittenberg...

 (the point of confluence with Buck Creek

Buck Creek State Park

Buck Creek State Park is a Ohio state park in Clark County, Ohio in the United States. The park is leased by the state of Ohio from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It includes C. J. Brown Reservoir and Dam, a flood control dam and reservoir built by the USACE as part of a flood control system in...

), then along Ohio State Route 4 into Dayton. The stream's confluence

Confluence

Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...

 with the Great Miami River

Great Miami River

The Great Miami River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long, in southwestern Ohio in the United States...

 is in Deeds Park.

The Mad River was one of the Great Miami River tributaries

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 that flooded during the Great Dayton Flood

Great Dayton Flood

The Great Dayton Flood of 1913 flooded Dayton, Ohio, and the surrounding area with water from the Great Miami River, causing the greatest natural disaster in Ohio history...

 of 1913, resulting in the creation of the Miami Conservancy District

Miami Conservancy District

The Miami Conservancy District is a river management agency operating in Southwest Ohio to control flooding of the Great Miami River and its tributaries. It was organized in 1914 following the catastrophic Great Dayton Flood of the Great Miami River in March 1913, which hit Dayton, Ohio...

.

Historically, the stream has also been known by the names Mad Creek and Tiber River, respectively, as well as by the Croatian name Fiume Mad (lit. "Mad River").

The first road between Cincinnati and Dayton that opened up the "Mad River Country" to European settlement was the Mad River Road

Mad River Road

Mad River Road was the first overland route between Dayton, Ohio and Cincinnati, Ohio. It was cut by Daniel C. Cooper in 1795 to provide access to the new town of Dayton and the "Mad River Country" northeast and north of Dayton. It was located at the mouth of the Mad River in the Symmes Purchase....

, cut in 1797. Today, a ski resort named Mad River Mountain

Mad River Mountain

Mad River Mountain is a ski and snowboard resort in Valley Hi, Ohio, United States. The elevation of Mad River Mountain is with a vertical drop of , and it has a ski season that runs from December 1 through March 16...

 is located near the stream's source.

Mad River is the largest coldwater

Coldwater fish

Coldwater fish, in the context of aquariums, refers to fish species that prefer cooler water temperatures than tropical fish, typically below . Some examples are koi and goldfish...

 fishery

Fishery

Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...

 in Ohio. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Ohio Department of Natural Resources

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources was created in 1949 by the Ohio Legislature. It is a government agency in the U.S. state of Ohio charged with maintaining natural resources such as state parks, public lands, state forests, state waterways, and recreation areas.Divisions of ODNR...

's Division of Wildlife periodically stocked Mad River with rainbow trout

Rainbow trout

The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....

 from 1931 until 1984, when the organization began stocking the stream with brown trout

Brown trout

The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....

 instead. The trout population suffers low reproduction rates due to sedimentation from channelization, extensive agricultural runoff

Surface runoff

Surface runoff is the water flow that occurs when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water from rain, meltwater, or other sources flows over the land. This is a major component of the water cycle. Runoff that occurs on surfaces before reaching a channel is also called a nonpoint source...

, and diminishing habitat.