Creating a Lake

[blueriver]

Eddie,

They are beautiful animals, but will wreak havoc on a pond. Grandad had a couple in his pond that tunneled holes out under the bank and dammed up the spillway.

They had to go to beaver heaven.

Chris

Amen ...

 

[rd_macgregor]

Our resident beavers moved on a few years ago, after eating themselves out of house and home. Now we don't even HAVE a pond, since their dam washed out in the spring. The enviro govmint folks have an incredible set of hurdles in the way of restoring the pond, so I'm not likely to do it...of course, beavers don't have to fill out the paperwork, built bypass structures, sediment traps, etc., so its easier for them.

BOB

 

[terry.dinerman]

My old pal Marcel Johnson from Bayou Teche would say...

"HEY!!! Dem's GOOD EATIN!!!!"

T

 

[Brahmus]

My old pal Marcel Johnson from Bayou Teche would say...

"HEY!!! Dem's GOOD EATIN!!!!"

T

What you know about Bayou Teche???

 

[terry.dinerman]

...WAAAAAAAAY backintheday, when Precious Bride thought I was beautiful, every Wednesday evening I would pick up Marcel in Berwick and we would hit the "Broken Wheel" up on Bayou Beouf for red beans and rice with a link of boudain, washed down with 25 cent Sudsweisers....

The "Mystic Knights of The Sea" lodge #6 7/8 used to meet there every Sat night too...

...das raht...:licking:

T

 

[tony Cecil]

Hi Eddie

I have a salt water pond, and this last few weeks I have been putting `gumbo` on the top so if the big coming tide were to somehow encroach the heavy clay would not wash so quickly....The `gumbo` comes from an area very close to the ocean, and we speculate that millions of years ago, it was a part of the ocean and as the tides slowly built it up and receded that the sediment became the `gumbo` , as it is about four feet thick, and under that is a shell like substance which is very good to top a road off..It makes sense that this area was a lake eventually as the `gumbo` would hold the fresh water....

.As I spread the `gumbo` with a hoe, there are a lot of fossils, and today several are of turtle shells --both top and bottom- that have been fossilized...and also the guys found a Mastodon tooth.....That was about three million years ago, they say.....I though of you and your turtles as I also wondered about the fossils I found.....Tony

 

[dawoodwa]

Just spent 3 evenings reading every post, great job at documenting everything. Hope you personal situation turns out as great as mine, I went thru a similar situation and I thank God everyday for the woman that I have met after my divorce, she and her daughter have taught me the true meaning of Love.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you, it's always nice to hear that somebody enjoyed reading this.

Eddie

 

[SWK]

Hello Eddie,

I am new to this site and just spent a few days reading about the creation of Lake Marabou. What an amazing job! Not only in the effort required to build such a great lake, but in the diligence of your posts and pictures over the last seven-plus years. Well done!

I am just getting started.

I found this thread because I am interested in building my own lake and I was doing research online. My father was in the Marines and he gave me a great appreciation for camping, fishing, canoeing and the tranquility of the outdoors. I consider it one of my life goals to build my own lake as a retreat from the concrete jungle of city life (I live in Chicago).

While I do not currently own any land or tractors, I am fairly young (32), I have a good job and I am willing to invest the next 20 years or more on this project.

I have now saved enough money to begin looking for land (most likely in Southern Wisconsin). I am thinking of purchasing approximately 25 acres for a 3-5 acre lake. I wanted to ask your advice for what type of terrain I should be looking for (i.e. a valley with a stream, a parcel sloping in one direction, very hilly, lightly wooded, etc.) Are there other things I should consider (nearby farms for waste run-off, spring / well availability, soil, groundwater tables, zoning)?

Of course I understand that all of this can get very complex and very detailed. I am just looking for any recommendations or assistance you can provide as I undertake this project. Since I am starting from scratch, I figured any advice I can collect along the way will help ensure a better project.

When my lake is completed, I will happily host bbq's for everyone who helped me along the way! Thank you so much.

Take care and enjoy the Fall on Lake Marabou!
SWK

 

[EddieWalker]

I am thinking of purchasing approximately 25 acres for a 3-5 acre lake. I wanted to ask your advice for what type of terrain I should be looking for (i.e. a valley with a stream, a parcel sloping in one direction, very hilly, lightly wooded, etc.) Are there other things I should consider (nearby farms for waste run-off, spring / well availability, soil, groundwater tables, zoning)?

Hi SWK,

Nice to hear you enjoyed the project.

You are in for a heck of a ride when it comes to buying land and building a lake on it. If you can find one already there, that would be the cheaper, smarter way to go.

If you want to build, the best would be a piece of land that you can dam up a valley that's all clay. The ideal situation would be surrounded by grassy pasture that's large enough to carry all sorts of water to your pond site. Measuring how many acres you have around you to catch the runoff and how much rain you get in your area will decide how big of a pond you can build.

Daming up a creek can be expensive if you need permits and dealing with however much water is coming down the creek. Then there is the concern of what is coming down the creek from fertilizers to unwanted fish. Then there is the issue of what happens during a heavy rain and how much water can the pond hold, and how much water can the spillway handle?

Water running over the dam is how dams fail. Too much water is a force that you can only wait for it to end and hope that you still have a pond.

To hold water, you have to have clay. Nothing else works very well, and to hope for the best with other soils is a good way to waste a lot of time and money. Make sure you know what you soil is. In most areas, there are layers to the soil. You might have to dig down a ways to find clay, or you might not find it at all. Sand is the worse, but gravel is just about as bad.

Springs are something to be nervous about. If its running water, then it's kind of like a stream. Ideally, if you can find a spring and build a pond where the water will run into it, you are golden. If you build the pond on the spring, it is likely that the water will flow the other direction and actually leak out of the pond and into the ground through the spring.

Good luck on your search and remember that it will cost ten times as much as you think it will to build the pond.

Eddie

 

[SWK]

Great - thanks Eddie for the detailed response!

I would definitely love to buy the complete package all at once (land, lake, possibly a small house), unfortunately I don't have that kind of dough.

So I figured I would make it a long term project - which would obviously help defray costs (especially if it will be ten times more than estimated!) and give me a challenging / rewarding project to work on over many years.

Thus my decision to buy the land first.

I have started looking into available parcels, and I have a friend who's father is an engineer who specializes in ground water and wells. I will surely take your advice in terms of looking for ground with clay, a grassy pasture to collect water, and avoid daming up any streams.

I'll keep you posted - and hopefully have some pics to share of some potential sites.

Thanks again and talk to you soon,
SWK

 

[tony Cecil]

Hi Eddie

Hope all is well with you Just thinking of your project, and wishing you were closer to S C as I sure would like to do business with you...Can`t believe how nice it would be to have a person who knew what they were doing, give a price and then get a project done...Tony

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks Tony, but if you are talking about lakes, I'm clueless on them. If it's home remodels, I'm very proud of staying on budget and sticking with the job until it's done.

Have you been finding any more fossils?

Eddie

 

[RedRock]

I've really enjoyed reading and exploring this thread Eddie. I lived in Tyler myself back in the late '90s and know how beautiful it is out there. There are lots of great tips you've revealed in this thread about maintaining a body of water. Back in April, the wife and I bought our place with a newly created pond...and from day 1 I've been worried about the dam giving way. Luckily, the man that sold it to me and built it has been running a dozer company for many years and knows what he's doing. He's also my neighbor . It's red clay based and he put in the tin horns just after we closed. It's a relatively small pond, but is at least 20 foot deep next to the dam since it was a deep creek ravine before. I hope to buy another 30 acres from him someday. We've had a few good rains and everything seems to be holding up well. I just need to get some grass growing on it. You've inspired me to start a thread myself as I work to correct some erosion, grow my 100 starter catfish, and basically just beautify the thing. My bigger concern at the moment is the other side of the tin horns after a big rain (not pictured) but I'll chronicle some of that in a separate post. Once again, awesome job on Lake Marabou.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hi Sandusky

Thank you for your compliments.

I like how open your woods are. I'm trying to do that in areas, but it's a very slow process. How big is your pond? My small pond is 3/4 of an acre and I started out with 200 channel cat fingerlings in there. I think that was five years ago, and with daily feeding, and not a lot of fishing pressure, I have quite a few over ten pounds and the current pond record is 12 pounds. Nobody has even fished it in months and to my knowledge, about a dozen fish have come out of it this year.

I didn't build a dock on it at first because I didn't think I wanted one. That was a mistake, and after building the dock, it's eveyones favorite place to be. I almost started building a dock on Lake Marabou this year, but keep pushing it back to do other projects. It's high on my list and something I really want to do next year. Eventually, I hope to hav five floating docks.

The back side of your pipes has errossion issues written all over it. I've seen how much water can go into a pond really fast, and what that water has done to my culverts going into Lake Marabou. None of my culverts are part of the dam, and only slow down the water going into the pond. If it was to let water out, I'd line all of it with concrete.

You also don't have much freeboard above your pipes. I don't know your area, but my spillway is 20 feet wide and I saw it well over a foot deep with water coming out of it just a few months ago!!!! That was very scary. I was lucky. There where quite a few ponds that failed because of that one storm. From what I understand, erossion at the back of the pipe is what washed out the dam. Once it gets to going, nothing will stop it until the water is done flowing.

When I finished the dam, it was November. I planted hulled Bermuda seed then and it started to grow. Then it died off and I thought I had wasted my money, but once it got warm out, that grass really took off!!!! In hindsite, I got lucky. Sometimes lucky is better then good. LOL

Good luck with your pond and I look forward to your updates on it when you start your thread on it.

Eddie

 

[tony Cecil]

How are you keeping the undergrowth cut back from the trees---right next to the trees.....?? I cut with a small tractor as close as I can, then in the spring spray killer over any smallish bushes, which seem to grow right next to the tree....I have a lot, and burn some, but the trees that are visible regularly---I have to do by hand...Tony ps to you Eddie---I haven`t been moving the `gumbo` lately, due to mowing, and as I said I sure wish you were closer....Have all the things to do that you are so good with, and your integrity would and is `the clincher`

 

[RedRock]

How are you keeping the undergrowth cut back from the trees---right next to the trees.....??

Tony, if this question was for me...not a huge problem for me because of a drought this past summer, but I do most by hand with loppers, and little by little I'm digging up the thorny vine root balls with a grubbing hoe. Other than the thorny vines, my other challenge is getting rid of the unwanted cedar and various oak saplings.

 

[RedRock]

How big is your pond? My small pond is 3/4 of an acre and I started out with 200 channel cat fingerlings in there.

If you add the part upstream out of the picture, it might add up to half an acre total, it's shaped like a long tadpole and very deep at the body

The back side of your pipes has errossion issues written all over it.

Your right, we've had a couple of isolated big storms that caused a little erosion around the end of the pipes but mainly because I can't get the grass to grow yet.

You also don't have much freeboard above your pipes.

I'm watching this area closely, so far the two overflow situations have run through the pipes.

Good luck with your pond and I look forward to your updates on it when you start your thread on it.Eddie

Thanks, these pictures are 6 months old and I've gotten some grass and ground cover to grow since. I'll be taking fresh pics when I start a project post.

 

[jinman]

Tony, if this question was for me...not a huge problem for me because of a drought this past summer, but I do most by hand with loppers, and little by little I'm digging up the thorny vine root balls with a grubbing hoe. Other than the thorny vines, my other challenge is getting rid of the unwanted cedar and various oak saplings.

If your thorny vines have heart shaped waxy leaves, I think they are common greenbriars. The root balls are a source of stored energy and they will bring back new plants with renewed vigor everytime you cut them up until they use up all their stored energy and give up. If you let them get a few inches tall, they rebuild the energy in the root and will never die. I've eliminated mine in my yard by years of close mowing and using the string trimmer. Goats absolutely love young greenbriars and will eat them down to the nub so that they will finally give up and die. Actually, some people also use the young leaves in salads because they are edible. Old dry greenbriar vines have about the worst thorns around except for mesquite.

I agree with Eddie about the back side of your culvert on your dam. I don't think any grass will successfully prevent erosion. I'd use rip-rap stone or maybe build a cascade waterfall with bag concrete to prevent undercutting. I think that's a lot more important than the amount of freeboard you have above your culvert as long as you don't have water that regularly overflows the culvert area. I have one culvert that has been in over 15 years and it has only about 12" of clay freeboard above it. It has never been a problem, but I have lots of football and basketball size rock on the backside to prevent erosion and undercutting by water flow.

 

[MarkV]

Yep I have to agree with Jim. From what the photo's show it will take more than grass to hold back the eventual overflow of water that is going to come through those culverts. Rock is what I would be putting on the outflow side.

MarkV