Creating a Lake

[EddieWalker]

The dirt from the burn is full of branches and pretty much useless for roads or building on, but it's fine for backfill behind the dam.

To get it there, I'm building piles that my Dad loads into the dump truck. Then he drives the dump truck to the area we want it, dumps it and comes back to load it again.

Again, the new, small burn pile is behind the dumptruck.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

The pile is apart in this picture, but there are a few stumps and logs left to relocate. Some will go to the burn pile, the rest is being used for structure for the fish when the lake is full and stocked.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

This picture shows the top of the dam where we're dumping the bad dirt. You can see where I scraped the blade across the top of the dam. The blade is 12 feet wide, so it's that wide there.

To get to where I want to build up the back of the dam, I cut a road into the back of the dam.

On the left, you can see part of the dirt that's been dumped.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

This picture is a bit deceptive, but you can see the piles of dirt in it. This area is behind the dam where it's the tallest. I've made the dam much larger then it needs to be, but here I'm going absolutely crazy with overkill. It's not so much that I'm wanting it stronger, but that I want a picnic area here.

The trees provide lots of shade and will be a very nice place for a picnic. I envision a large grassy area even with the top of the dam in the 15,000 square foot range, give or take some.

The area next to the dam will be filled with clean clay and compacted to double the thickness of the dam after the dirty fill is removed from the burn pile. Then that material will also be covered by another six to 8 feet of clean fill.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Those logs that I'm not gonna burn any more are going to be underwater structure for my fish. From what I've learned on Pondboss, it's important to have lots of structure for them to do well.

I'm trying to get the logs up of the ground and incorperate them into my undewater islands. The islands will have water lilies on them, but the drop off will put the depth too deep for the lilies to spread. Lots of plants can be a good thing if kept under control.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

The equipment in this picture will give you some idea of the size of my structure. This is my biggest one with several trees with stumps well over two feet thick!!

This spot should really be the best place in the lake for fishing, but there will be plenty of options for them, so who knows?

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Close up of the structure. I actually took some time and put them in specific places and arranged them to creat a reef type of underwater habitat. Or so I'm hoping.

Behind the logs, you can see there is still dirt there. That will all be removed to bring the depth of the lake down to the same as in front of the logs. This dirt is what I'm going to use to build up the picnic area behind the dam.

Eddie

 

[npaden]

Won't the logs float?

 

[RobJ]

Where is the bypass going now? What happend to the spring, sandy area(what you thought could be a leak).

Sure is a good size, gonna take a while to fill up I would think.

 

[EddieWalker]

Nathen,

The logs will become waterlogged and should stay right in place. If it takes longer than I expect it to, then they might float a little for a short period of time, but the stumps on the ends should keep them from drifting. The stumps don't have a chance of floating, or at least I don't think they will.

Rob,

The sand layer had clay under it. I dug down to the clay and then went another foot to be sure. I moved all that material, wich is more like a sand/clay mix to where my shoreline road is going. This stuff hardens up like cement, but of course, it won't hold water.

I then pushed clay to that area to build up a wall on the sides of the lake where the sand kept on going out into the woods. This clay is 3 to 4 feet thick with a crown that's wider than the dozer blade. The blade is 12 feet wide. I did this in layers and drove over it a bunch each time with my tracks. It took a very long time, but I'm confident that I got a good seal.

This is also where the spillway is located and my point of reference for the water level, or height of the dam.

We've been known to get storms that dump two to five inches of rain in a single day. After the first inch, it's pretty much all run off. I'm putting in two big culverts and have a drainage canal dug that will catch the water from about a 60 or so acres and direct most of it to the lake. My roads are being built to act as funnels to direct water to the lake also. Then there is the water table that's seeping water into the area from the shoreline.

When I first started this project, there was so much water in this area I was unsure how I was going to clear the trees. Then we had a terrible drought last year and it dried up enough to get in there. It was still pretty wet in spots, but that just loosened the soil so I could get the trees out. It was too wet to dig in. This year the drought is even worse and it's dried out enough to dig. I never imagined that I'd be able to dig out this area and had come to live with the idea of it being only 2 feet deep. Now I'm around 6 feet deep and have a really nice shoreline.

My last source of water for the lake is the creek behind the dam. I own half of it, so I can't dam it up, but I can pull water from it. I'm still debating the different methods to do this, so nothing has been decided. Right now I like the idea of a pond waterfall pump running 24/7. It wont fill the lake, but it will fight evaporation.

Thanks,
Eddie