In 1887, after legal efforts to close the Six Mile Reservoir failed, frustrated locals destroyed it because the 2,000-acre reservoir, which had supplied water to the Wabash & Erie Canal years after any boat ran on it, had become a stagnant, uncultivable breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitos. Legislative attempts to abandon the canal and reservoir had failed because manufacturers in Defiance used the waterway to float logs downstream. On the night of April 25, 1887, 200 men calling themselves "The Dynamiters" carried a banner reading "No Compromise! The Reservoir Must Go!" and converged there, overpowered citizen guards, gouged the banks of the reservoir, dynamited the bulkhead and lock, and burned down the lockkeeper's house. The next day, Governor Joseph B. Foraker denounced the acts of the "mob of lawless and rioting men" and dispatched General Henry Axline and several companies of militia from Toledo to the site, where they established Camp Dynamite to protect state property and preserve peace. By then the Dynamiters had dispersed, and citizens flocked to see the Gatling gun and mingle with the soldiery. The troops were recalled after a week, and the conflict's only casualty was Private Fred Reeves, who died of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound. A month later, Governor Foraker visited and was convinced of the citizens' grievances. A bill abandoning the reservoir and canal passed in the Ohio legislature and became law on April 12, 1888. On July 4, 1888, county citizens, joined by troops who had served at Camp Dynamite, celebrated in nearby Antwerp, and the Dynamiters were never punished.