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

 

[meadowlarkponds]

Eddie,

The logs without the stumps attached will float and move. The ones with the stumps may float on the opposite end. One way I've used to prevent that is to just tie on a couple of bags of redi-mix. Works for me and easy to do.

 

[EddieWalker]

ML,

I've tried to cover the logs with logs with stumps. I've also pushed the tops of the trees into my underground islands a few feet to help secure them.

I'll add some sacks of the cheapest readi mix I can find. Might even ask for opens sacks or ones that might have alread set up.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[bmac]

Lookin' good, Eddie. Hard to tell from the pictures, but you aren't pushing the fill dirt around the trunks of those trees on the back side of the dam, are you? Don't have any personal experience but have heard on a number of occassions that that is a sure-fire way to kill a tree.

Can't believe you are letting something like 105 degree temperatures slow you down. You Wuss!

 

[patrick_g]

Trees on the back side of the dam are not a long term bonus as their roots will burrow through the dam toward the water. Whoopee for the tree. If the tree ever dies the roots will rot and the hollow tubes formed will act as pipes through your dam to drain it.

I have 10 ponds. Some came with tree infestations when I bought the place. A couple of these dams are leaking.

I'm considering my options, none are nice, but haven't picked one yet. If I cut large trees I will surely cause leaks through the root chanels If I don't I am just postponing problems as more and more roots are established.

Trees on the front (water side) of the dam are not nearly as bad.

I may have to just rip out the trees, drain the pond, and reseal the water side of the dam with clay and bentonite and in 4-5 years when the drought may end in these parts it will refill.

patrick_g

 

[meadowlarkponds]

Patrick,

You are so right. When renovating an old pond, I found tree roots from pine trees located well off the back side of the dam. They were causing leaks in conjunction with animal tunnels. The only good solution was to take them out and rework the dam as you mentioned.

 

[EddieWalker]

Patrick,

The trees area concern and originally were not going to be so close to the dam. In fact, the dam was going to be about a quarter of the size it turned out to be. I just kept making it bigger and bigger until I just looked right. This is totally my perspective, but the size of the dam gives it a look that I really like.

The trees that were going to be on the back of the dam are long gone. But I made the dam so much bigger, that it's on top of the side of the trees. One side of the tree has a dam on it. The other side is left untouched.

The vast majority of the trees are sweetgums, which in my experience are about impossible to kill. Meadowlark was here and he told me they will probably all die in a few years. I'm not conviced they will, but he knows allot more than I do. It's one of those things I'm gonna take a wait and see aproach.

The roots are a concern. I might be just stuborn here, but the distance from the trunk to the lake is over 50 feet at the closest. To me, that just seems too far for the roots to travel when there's no eveidence of them doing that.

Again, this is another wait and see issue.

The log pile is cleaned up and all the mixed soil, soot and burn pile remains is gone. Probably close to a thousand yards. Now my dad and I are hauling clean fill to widen the dam to twice it's current thickness, then build up the picnic area and side slopes.

Fuel is my biggest expense. Today I bought 200 gallons of farm diesel for $2.41 a gallon. The picture is of my fuel trailer filling up my backhoe.

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Fuel is my biggest expense. Today I bought 200 gallons of farm diesel for $2.41 a gallon. The picture is of my fuel trailer filling up my backhoe.

Eddie, that looks like two saddle tanks off a semi. Is it?

 

[john_bud]

Fuel is my biggest expense. Today I bought 200 gallons of farm diesel for $2.41 a gallon. The picture is of my fuel trailer filling up my backhoe.

Eddie

Eddie, How long does that 200 gal last? Can't be much more that 40 -50 hours of work?

jb

 

[EddieWalker]

Hi Jim,

Yes, I got the tanks for free from a tennent I used to have. He worked on big rigs and had a collection of damaged tanks. These two had damaged threads for the caps. On one tank I had an aluminum pipe welded to the fill hole to mount the pump. On the other side, I bought a racing type cap and bolted it on to fill from that side. The tanks are connected with two 3/4 inch hoses and balance themselves out.

John,

200 gallons lasts about a week if I'm running the dozer allot. Just an estimate, but I think the dozer uses about three gallons of diesel and hour. The backhoe goes just about a week on a tank of fuel and my little Century tractor just about goes forever.

My worse month was 6 tanks of fuel, or 1,200 gallons in one month.

Eddie

 

[john_bud]

1200 gal in one month! Ouch, that's gotta leave a mark on the old wallet. So, if the dozer goes 3 gal/hour and you used 1200 gal, that makes 400 hours of seat time in a month. I don't know if I'm sympathetic or jealous...

Question for you, how are you planning on keeping the water from turning into green soupy goo? I have a little duck pond that get water in the spring from snow melt, and it is a race to see if it drains out first or gets to solid green first. Green usually wins.

jb