Creating a Lake

Hi Mr. Walker,

I just want to commend you for a job-well-done in the building of your lake. I found this site a couple hours ago and pretty much scanned this entire thread, including most of the pictures. This was a fascinating read, from the very beginning of the project right to the end. The sweat and manpower has really paid off for you. The lake is beautiful!!! For what it's worth. . .Good Job!

Brian Kwiatkowski - Pennsylvania

(The attached picture shows the lake that I built on my 200 acres of land. Definitely NOT an easy job!)

BrianKwiatkowski said:

Hi Mr. Walker,

I just want to commend you for a job-well-done in the building of your lake. I found this site a couple hours ago and pretty much scanned this entire thread, including most of the pictures. This was a fascinating read, from the very beginning of the project right to the end. The sweat and manpower has really paid off for you. The lake is beautiful!!! For what it's worth. . .Good Job!

Brian Kwiatkowski - Pennsylvania

(The attached picture shows the lake that I built on my 200 acres of land. Definitely NOT an easy job!)

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Brian,
Welcome to TBN.:thumbsup: Awesome place you have with the lake you built.
hugs, Brandi

Hi Brian,

Thanks for your first post being on my thread!!!! and for the nice compliment.

Your lake looks amazing. Love to see lake pictures. Congratulations on yours.

Eddie

Hi again Eddie,

Thanks. Seriously, you should consider taking the key elements of this thread and turn it into a 'how to' book. You literally presented every step from conception to the end result. I remember looking at the first few of your pictures and thought "how the **** is this guy going to turn this mess into a lake!" Imagine my surprise when I got to the last page of this thread. You never gave up, and what a result! Incredible. What a great, enjoyable and informative read.

(Most of my lake is replenished with surface run-off. I diverted most of the mountain run-off through an artificial wetland that I created for filtration purposes. Somehow it worked out perfectly. The result was clear water and healthy fish. Still have a lot of cleanup and additional landscaping to do.)

Brian

BrianKwiatkowski said:

Hi again Eddie,

Thanks. Seriously, you should consider taking the key elements of this thread and turn it into a 'how to' book. You literally presented every step from conception to the end result. I remember looking at the first few of your pictures and thought "how the **** is this guy going to turn this mess into a lake!" Imagine my surprise when I got to the last page of this thread. You never gave up, and what a result! Incredible. What a great, enjoyable and informative read.

(Most of my lake is replenished with surface run-off. I diverted most of the mountain run-off through an artificial wetland that I created for filtration purposes. Somehow it worked out perfectly. The result was clear water and healthy fish. Still have a lot of cleanup and additional landscaping to do.)

Brian

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Brian,
Is that dog of yours a White German Shepard? I had one when I was 19. His Mom and Dad played tug-o-war with a 4x4.
hugs, Brandi

Hi Brandi,

"Tug of War with a 4x4." Cute, lol.

Well, she is half Shepherd and half Huskie, with a little Malamute in her too. I got her from the pound when she was 6 months old, and now she's pushing 12years. I own/preside over a Rail transloading company with 1.7 miles of track and 220 acres of land, which is where I built the lake, so she gets a LOT of exercise. I'm hoping to get another 6-8 years out of her. She has a very good life, so she has a reasonable shot at making 20 (which is a rarity). She literally 'supervised' the entire construction of the lake, not to mention the entire business from the ground up. It's her land, and she let's you know it, lol.

Brian

BrianKwiatkowski said:

Hi Brandi,

"Tug of War with a 4x4." Cute, lol.

Well, she is half Shepherd and half Huskie, with a little Malamute in her too. I got her from the pound when she was 6 months old, and now she's pushing 12years. I own/preside over a Rail transloading company with 1.7 miles of track and 220 acres of land, which is where I built the lake, so she gets a LOT of exercise. I'm hoping to get another 6-8 years out of her. She has a very good life, so she has a reasonable shot at making 20 (which is a rarity). She literally 'supervised' the entire construction of the lake, not to mention the entire business from the ground up. It's her land, and she let's you know it, lol.

Brian

Click to expand...

Brian,
Well, she sure is a pretty gal. We once had a Husky and Collie cross. He was a big guy. Right now I just have Booger.
hugs, Brandi

This whole thread is astonishing. Man builds lake! The scale of effort is so big it almost seems it would need to be a Gov't Works Project, yet this guy actually did this.

You guys have some serious talent. The lake that the guy from PA built looked really nice, too.

Cool dogs, too!

I forget exactly when, but I think it was around July of last year that I received over 8 inches in one day of rain. That is the last time Lake Marabou was full. That is the last time that I've received any significant rain.

Nothing has come down hard enough to have any run off, or come when the ground was already wet so I would get some runoff. The water level dropped over the summer last year and I went into winter about 2 feet low. That would have been easy to fill if I had a normal winter, but instead of rain, I got snow. That didn'g give me any runoff either. It just melted into the ground and the water level never went up.

Spring started the process of evaporation again, and with close to three months of temps over 100 degrees, the water level really droped. I'm just guessing, but I'm sure that I'm over 6 feet down and I only have six feet left in the deepest end. Luckily the weather had cooled off and evaporation isn't such an issue. Now I just need to hope for a wet winter!!!!!

Eddie

Eddie, in my opinion, your lake has survived this drought with some water. That's the "trial by fire" so to speak. I don't think things will get much tougher than this year. If you had your business opened and wild animals present, they would have a place to drink and cool off in the heat. I think your lake looks very good compared to some. Our big lake has lost half of it's water, maybe more. I think this drought has shown everyone in our area with a pond whether their ponds are properly designed or not. Many ponds are just mud holes or bone dry now. Yours is lookin' good to me.:thumbsup: