Pond re-do Part 2

[Barton]

I'm went back a few days later to see the progress. I took a bunch of pictures during this project and I'm finding it difficult to decide which ones might be interesting to others and not bore anyone.

Anyway, it's the core-the-dam phase of the project. Stan was concerned that the clay may be too dry for it to pack down for the core but it rained just enough for that not to be a problem. He subed out the dirt pan work. I was told the dirt pan's capacity was 14 yards. The east half of the core was built up first, then the west half.

I did not get to see the core at its deepest but the neighbor took his wife on their 4 wheeler thru it and she told him to get her out of there, NOW!

Stan had determine that the clay on the east side of the pond was better than the clay on the west side. The dirt pan operator went round and round for several days building up the core. The 2nd to last picture shows just a bit of the left corner of the dirt pan.

 

[Barton]

Back 6 days later...

The moving of dirt is, for most part, over. The 1st and 2nd pictures show the east and west ends of the dam.

The next 4 show the siphon/overflow system being installed.
Then a picture of the spillway for emergency overflow, a fish hole, the back side of the dam and we had more rain.

 

[Barton]

I went back 2 days late on the 18th of June. Straw was being scattered out. 1,000 lbs./acre of lime had been spread in and around the pond. Also, 100 lbs./acre of balanced fertilizer was spread around the pond and brown top millet and common Bermuda had been drilled.

Oh, we had more rain. The last picture shows the new pipe installed below the dam to make it easier to cross over from the east side to the west.

 

[jinman]

That's going to be an awesome pond. I can't wait to see it filled
(refilled).:thumbsup:

 

[Knight9]

That's going to be an awesome pond. I can't wait to see it filled
(refilled).:thumbsup:

X2!! That looks great!​

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Wow, that's gonna be a nice pond. Have you figured up the acreage? Or is it posted somewhere and I just got picture happy.....

 

[Western]

Super nice!! Wheres the dock and the concession stand:laughing:

 

[Barton]

Thanks to all for the compliments. We were fortunate to have some great folks that helped get this project done: Stan, the pond man, Dale, the NRCS guy, and Greg, the neighbor. Also, lady luck was player, i.e. it didn't rain or it did rain just at the right times.

Kyle, The size of the pond was estimated at 3 acres but it sure looks bigger than that to me. My home is on a 300' x 300' lot and the pond looks to me like at least 2 of my lots could fit in it. But looks can be deceiving especially since my lot is wooded.

Dau. and SIL drove down 4th of July week for a visit and to check out the new pond. They were pleased with the results and now will try to figure out the best spot for their future home and then where to build the barn.

The millet seem to just leap out of the ground! I've attached a few pictures.

I'll upload a couple pictures when the pond is filled.

 

[Barton]

It's time for an update.

I took up bike riding last year for theexercise and thought it would be swell idea to buy a Garmin GPS Edge 200 for the bike. It has the normal bike computer functions plus you can upload the route ridden. Garmin software overlays it on a map/satellite image. I can now see on my pc where I've been.

I know this is a bit lame but... I took my bike GPS over to the pond. I drove the gator slowly, counter clockwise, as close to the edge of the pond as I dared, while holding the GPS with my left arm outstrecthed. I don't know why the starting and ending points did not match up. Maybe the earth shifted a bit. But I came up with a circumference of .28 miles. Using that figure and a couple of conversions here and some round offs there, I came up with the area of the pond of 3.99 acres.

Of course I had to make some assumptions, like the pond is a circle, etc, but I'm positive that, given my mathematical skills and such, it would be safe to say that the area of the pond is between 2 and 6 acres, but I'm just going to say the pond is 4 acres. The picture shows the property with the old pond.



A friend of Michele's just happened to be flying by and took some pictures of the property. There is some water in the new pond. The road at the bottom of the first picture runs almost true north to south. The southern property line is to the right of the mowing lane, row of cedars then a thin row of native trees. It's a straight line on through the hardwood bottoms. The new dam is close to the center of the picture.

The second picture is from the east. The eastern property line is a straight line right at the clear cut area to the road on the right.

 

[Barton]

Greg, the neighbor, called Michele last Monday morning and told her the pond was beyond full after the 9 inches of rain we had last week (through Sunday). He sent her a few pictures that he took Monday morning. The following picture shows the water coming out of the overflow pipe.



I went over yesterday to check it out and took a few pictures. The first of 4 pictues is of the east side then working towards the west. The 5th picture was taken close to the west end of the dam. The first picture, from the debri on the bank, shows the high water mark, about a foot above the max, normal level. Water was up in the emergency overflow spillway about 15 feet.



Edit: I messed up loading the 5th picture. The 2nd pic is the one starting on the east side. The 1st on shows the dam from the east side.

Water was still coming out of the overflow pipe and the small pipe was sucking a little air then the water would cover the end of it.