The gully to pond project

[Carykong]

Jinman, Have enjoyed this thread very much. Looking forward to the details on your dams,how built,overflow provisions. Will you include pipes? You describe a dam over 20' high? What will the base width of the dam require?

Also, what is the total elevation drop from the road in front of your house to the big lake?

 

[jinman]

Thanks Cary. I've let this thread lapse a little while I've tried to make great progress on the knobby hill with the hard caliche. I have piles of clay and I have my low spot almost completely filled in. Before this weekend is gone, I hope to have some real progress that is easy to see in the photos.

As far as the drop from the road to the big lake on the back side of my property, I think the drop is 30 to 35 feet. The first 15-20 feet of drop occurs pretty rapidly as you move across my property away from the road, but slows down as the lake is approached. The level of my ponds near the lake is about 10' above the normal lake level. The highest pond I am working on now is about 12' below the road level and the deeper/larger pond is about 20' or the level of a two-story house below the road.

I've attached a picture of the caliche outcrop I'm working on now. The clay is in piles at the top of the hillside and the loose sand layer has been removed. The final 8' of digging is tough and breaks up in chunks up to 2'x2' sheets.

 

[Carykong]

I have monitored my properties from time to time with google earth satillite photos. Based on my experience the google earth photos on my properties are updated every 12 month to 18 month intervals approx. Your before and after photos will be very interesting.

Can you comment on the actual dam construction details,yet?

 

[jinman]

Can you comment on the actual dam construction details,yet?

Cary, I haven't done much on dam construction because the dam for the smaller pond is right in the way of the path I travel to haul my spoils up to fill in the high gully. I can tell you that I've stockpiled a lot of clay and started digging a bit on my key trench for that dam. I plan to have a trench about 12' thick and extending below the level of the pond by 3' to 4'. It will rise to above the normal water level and then I'll fill in on the front and back sides so that it is about 40' wide at the bottom up to a flat top about 15' wide. Since I plan to have a gravel drive on top of this dam, it will be substantial and wide enough that people driving over it don't feel insecure. The dam for the larger pond will be even wider than that, but it will be in an existing gully and supported mostly by native soil. Considering that the gully is V-shaped, the higher pressure at the bottom will be in the narrowest part with a thick key trench approximately 16' thick and well below the base of the pond. Yesterday, I took the picture below that shows the only narrow gully I need to dam across for the pond. It really is a job just "begging" to be done because of the way Mother Nature has sculpted this land. I'll have to take out the trees as a final step before starting to build the dam in this area.

The second picture kind of relates to the question you asked yesterday about how my property slopes away from the county road. It's a ground level shot across the main area of erosion gullies toward the road where the poles are located. I will tackle this after building these current two ponds. This area will eventually become a large lake with water filled fingers where gullies are now. I'm thinking of calling it Fishy Fingers Lake.

 

[jinman]

It seems I've been doing mostly everything except working on my excavation lately. However, it is the Thanksgiving to Christmas holiday season, so I guess I'm allowed to take it slow if needed. I just wish it weren't so dry. A little more rain would sure make my work less dusty. Compared to last year, this Oct/Nov have been really dry. Last year, I had tiny bluebonnets up and growing by this time, but this year I have very few. It may be a bad year for wildflowers next spring if we don't get some rain to help them germinate and prepare for the spring eruption of color.

I did some work yesterday and here are a few pictures of digging in the caliche outcrop I have to mostly remove. I'm going to leave a bit of this level so I can put some steps down to it and may put a cover in for a shaded veranda above the pond to sit and fish. I probably have 75-100 more yards to remove. It seems the caliche doubles in size when I dig it out and it crumbles to sand.

The first three pictures are slightly different views of my excavation in the caliche. The closeup one shows just how the caliche breaks up into chunks as I dig. The fourth picture shows the whole area with my house in the background. Notice over the tractor canopy that you can see the area I've been filling in. It is really filling up nicely. I'm posting two final photos that show just how deep this area was when I started. Last year, I was taking out sand in this area and this year I'm filling it in.

 

[Carykong]

Jinman, Can you anticipate how much lake area will you create in terms of acres,assuming the lakes fill to capacity?

 

[TripleR]

You sure have moved a lot of material; nice house.:thumbsup:

 

[jinman]

Jinman, Can you anticipate how much lake area will you create in terms of acres,assuming the lakes fill to capacity?

Cary, I think 1/2 acre under water will be maximum. People often overestimate the size of ponds/lakes. 1/2 acre is a spot of almost 150' x 150' square. That's huge. Often, a 1/2 acre lake will have a dam and sloping sides out to 3/4 acre, but the actual area under water being 1/2 acre is a massive pond in my estimation. The area of both of my ponds and the area I'm filling in is not much more than 1 acre. I may end up with even less than 1/2 acre of surface water, but it'll be 12' deep in a couple of spots with most being 6' to 8'. Also, if I want to attract migrating birds, I need shallows where they can feed. If I want any help from the conservation service, having well planned shallow feeding areas and vegetation for aquatic birds is a big plus. If I get 1-1/2 acres underwater in my bigger lake area, I'll be thrilled. Since runoff is the source, the water will probably vary as much as 50% over a normal season. We catch water in the spring and then hope for a mild summer with a few rains to keep our ponds from going dry.

 

[ArtMech]

I have monitored my properties from time to time with google earth satillite photos. Based on my experience the google earth photos on my properties are updated every 12 month to 18 month intervals approx. Your before and after photos will be very interesting.

I've seen the changes of my property in the Google Maps as well, like new road, shadows of the growing trees. I had even been seen once the hay cut by me on the property of my neighbour.
I guess the update intervals depend on weather conditions, 'cause it's not possible to take correct photos of the earth when it's cloudy.
And yes, Jim's satellite photos will create a history of his property.

 

[beppington]

In case ya'll didn't realize, some versions of Google Earth (mine is v5.2.1.1588) have a button for a "history" bar you can slide back-&-forth to see the various years of aerial photos available for the area you're looking at.

It's the little button at the top that looks like a clock titled "Show historical imagery. Use the time slider to move between acquisition dates."

For my property Google Earth has aerial photos from 1/95, 1/99, 12/04, 11/05, 12/05, 3/06, 11/07 and the latest 1/08.

 

[jinman]

And yes, Jim's satellite photos will create a history of his property.

I'm lucky to have friends who own airplanes or are pilots. I can pay for their fuel and airplane rental and they'll fly me over for a photo session. That way I get to pick the time of day and the photos of interest. I can document my neighbor's growing junkyards too. I've also considered shooting video and stills from a tethered balloon. Technology has opened lots of possibilities.

 

[ArtMech]

I'm lucky to have friends who own airplanes or are pilots. I can pay for their fuel and airplane rental and they'll fly me over for a photo session. That way I get to pick the time of day and the photos of interest. I can document my neighbor's growing junkyards too. I've also considered shooting video and stills from a tethered balloon. Technology has opened lots of possibilities.

I guess photos might be historically interesting and important from both: either from an airplane, fixed baloon or from satellite

 

[jinman]

I apologize for not updating this thread for a long time. I've made a lot of progress, but mostly I've hauled load after load of spoils to level a gully and start building terraces. I've also set this project aside while I had some repairs done to my house and a room added. Now, I'm back to doing pond building in my spare time.:thumbsup:

When people are building large buildings, they have a topping-out ceremony when the last floor is built. Perhaps I should have a bottoming-out ceremony because I finally reached the finished depth on the pond. The three pictures below show the main basin for the lowest level pond. The final picture shows how water will flow through two culverts and down into the pond from the higher pond. Of course I still have some shaping to do here, and I will build a cascade of large rocks for the water as it falls down the bank. Controlling erosion in this area will be something I will rip-rap, rocks and even concrete as needed. The green area to the left is the location of the dam with the red line showing that I will have a driveway across the top of the dam.

The final picture is just a tiny sample of the rocks I've collected. The rock on top of the pile probably weighs over a ton because my New Holland TC45D could not even move it uphill when I got it into my rock bucket. I'm sure messing with that rock is what blew out my hydraulic pump's seals. The NH LB75B had no problem moving it at all. If I had used it first, I could have saved myself about a $250 repair job.:confused2:

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for the update. You sure have moved a lot of material!!!!!!!!

Eddie

 

[jinman]

I have begun digging my dam's core trench that will be filled with compacted clay. I'd say I'm a bit over 1/2 done. This is a pain to dig because my backhoe can only place spoils on either side up to 90 degrees. It can't rotate all the way around like an excavator. I have to place spoils on each side of the trench and then come back and haul them away with my loader. Every move has to be planned or I end up moving dirt way too many times. That just eats up time and fuel if I don't get it right.

The 1st two pictures show the core trench. While it shows some of the steepness of the approach, you don't get the full effect. The 3rd picture is looking the opposite direction with the core trench barely visible on the right. It's much easier to see how steep the approach is. The core trench will extend another 15 to 18 feet and into the slope so that the approach path shown will be excavated away for the trench.

The final picture shows the area on the high side of the dam where the higher pond will be located. The location of the dam is shown with the green highlight and the circled red area will be completely excavated away for a larger basin. You can see in the background that I have filled the above this pond at least 10' deep. That fill and area is the subject of my next post.

 

[jinman]

These final photos show the area of the deep gully I have filled with spoils from all my digging. I built some small temporary terraces and put some rocks in just in case it rains (not likely). By spreading the flow of water to each side of this area and then controlling erosing with rocks, I can keep this gully from reforming. Here are some photos from several angles. I will soon get some rip-rap hauled in so I can protect the final slop from erosion. I may even have to put some type of cloth down before the rip-rap to hold the soil. If I don't do something, it will just slowly erode and silt-in my high pond.

That's where I am today. I go buy $120 worth of diesel a week and just keep progress going at my pace when I have time. I'm not trying to win any races and the no-pressure approach sure makes this fun.

 

[jinman]

You sure have moved a lot of material!!!!!!!!

Eddie

Yes I have, Eddie. As you are famous for saying, you have to have a good plan for your spoils when you dig a pond. Luckily, Mother Nature supplied me with a place nearby to where I am digging. I'm thankful that I could haul it with my loader and didn't need a dump truck or trailer. I dont' know how I would ever have been able to get either of those down into the pond and back out when full.

 

[bindian]

This is a pain to dig because my backhoe can only place spoils on either side up to 90 degrees. It can't rotate all the way around like an excavator. I have to place spoils on each side of the trench and then come back and haul them away with my loader. Every move has to be planned or I end up moving dirt way too many times. That just eats up time and fuel if I don't get it right.

Looking good Jim!:thumbsup:

Oh the joys of a backhoe. I like digging down a slope and trying to get the spoils just to stay when I dump them. Then when you do try to scoop them with your bucket, it just pushing them back down the slope. Oh what fun.:laughing: You're right. Every move has to be orchestrated.

If I ever dig out a pond again, there will be an excavator or mini ex. nearby for sure.
hugs, Brandi

 

[czechsonofagun]

That's land improvement at it's finest :thumbsup:

 

[jinman]

That's land improvement at it's finest :thumbsup:

Thanks Prokop. That's exactly what I'm hoping to do. When I look out from my house, I want to see two ponds instead of erosion gullies.