The gully to pond project

[jinman]

Well, well, well, look what thread I dragged to the top of the forum.

Last summer it was so hot and dry that I just put the pond on hold. Then, last fall I started it up again, but I got out of the habit of posting to this thread, so I'll get started again and bring it up to speed.

Last June, I had just dug the core trench for the dam when I quit because of the heat, dry sand, and blowing wind that turned the whole area into a giant sand blasting machine for exposed skin. Pictures of the core trench are shown below.

After a bit of rain in November 2011, I got back to work with filling the core trench for the first dam. In the photo below, you can see the red clay filling the trench and I added some text to show the knob of land I'll remove to mine for more clay. The entire center of my dam will be pure clay with a mixture of clay and sand on the sides. The excavated caliche seems to pack very well when mixed with a little clay. The dam will be about 55' thick at the base and 15' wide at the top with a driving path across the dam.

 

[jinman]

By the first of February, I had excavated most of the clay and pond basin while building up the dam. Here are three progress shots. The first one shows the location of where the overflow will be. I plan to put in two plastic culverts at a level at least 3' below the level of the top of the pond. From what I've seen with my other ponds, that should leave plenty of freeboard. I can always add more fill if that proves to be wrong.

 

[jinman]

Earlier in the year, I felt really bad when we had 3" of rain and I had to let it all run away. Now, with the dam in place, even a small rain puts a little water into the pond. We had a pretty good downpour of around 1/2" and it put some muddy water into the pond. I pretty much danced a jig on the dam because all this work has been leading up to this moment (1st picture).

The second picture shows the surface of the dam and how the clay compacts by driving my 20k lb TLB back and forth over it. If I do it with a full bucket, the front tires really do some serious compaction.

The third picture shows the backside of the dam and some loose dirt before compacting. Yep, my New Holland CUT and my TLB can go up and down this steep incline due to 4WD. I can compact the loose material with the CUT and then the TLB does the final compacting. You can get a hint of what the backside of this dam will look like if you figure the water from the 2nd pond will only be down about 12' from the top. Of course, that's if I ever get enough rain to fill both ponds.

 

[jinman]

Here are some photos showing how the pond looks today after another 1" rain and some final excavation. I built a small temporary terrace to direct water flowing down my hillside to the pond. I'll rip-rap the area where it drops into the pond to eliminate erosion. Also, I'll widen the terrace later and get it seeded with grass.

 

[jinman]

I've run out of clay since I don't want to cut back the high-side hill around my pond any further. I went exploring and found a spot with enough clay to build all the dams I want. It's pure red clay and NO ROCKS. Unfortunately, it's a long way away from the area and I can't go the short route because of deep gullies (1st picture). I don't want to build a road through these gullies and cause more erosion. I decided to haul the clay out and along my road. The last photo shows the path in green. The black line is the shortest but not feasible. Also, I cannot get my dump trailer into this area because it would sink into wet soil. The same would be true of a dump truck. I can haul 1-1/2 yd with my TLB, and using the road makes the trip very quick. I can live with this for the last couple of feet of fill on the dam.

So that's where I am as of today. The challenge is keep building the dam until it is at a final height and wide enough on top for a road across that will allow someone to stop in the middle of the dam and get out without being uncomfortable because they are too close to the water. I think 16' wide on top is minimum. Probably, I need 20' wide if I want to add a decorative fence/guard rail on each side.

 

[beppington]

Enjoying the update!

 

[20 20]

Thanks for the updates Jinman, I wonder if your redclay is like our blue. sticks to everything and holds water great.

 

[jinman]

Thanks for the updates Jinman, I wonder if your redclay is like our blue. sticks to everything and holds water great.

Does your blue clay stick inside the bucket in big globs that have to be chiseled out? If so, it is just like our red clay. It seems that our red clay is soft and sticky when wet and hard as a brick when dry. It's hard to find a happy medium. But like you said, if you made a bowl out of this clay, it would hold it until it evaporated. It's the perfect clay for making dams. Some materials places mix the clay with sand and come out with a fill dirt that spreads perfectly and sets up like a brick with compaction and a little moisture.:thumbsup:

 

[20 20]

Jinman, sounds like the same, when I use my baby mini excavator with the small bucket it is a real pain to keep it cleaned out. That stuff can pack in like brick. Its funny you mentioned about mixing it with sand. I mixed some of mine with sand and used it for a base on my drive, put #2 crushed rock over it and it is great. Not much will grow in it clover seems to do real good, which for me is good my bees they love clover

 

[jinman]

Its funny you mentioned about mixing it with sand. I mixed some of mine with sand and used it for a base on my drive, put #2 crushed rock over it and it is great.

How did you do the sand/clay mix? I have about 250 yd of sand I took out of a sandbar at the mouth of a creek and have been thinking of mixing that with the clay. I'd put down a layer of each and then run over that repleatedly with my 6' wide KKII tiller. I'm thinking the clay would have to be pretty dry, but that should work for mixing. What do you think?