Ed,
Good to hear your input...thank you. Meadowlark would sing harmony to your statement regarding segmented dam construction. His posture was more geared toward allowing an opening thru the dam during construction to allow the release of any water build-up (expected or unexpected). Then, carefully pack the trench with good clay soil when pond excavation is done. Pretty much the same process, m/l. We are going to install a drain so this won't be necessary. For this reason, I continue to lean toward cutting and packing the core as one monolithic unit...why not? I also agree with the wisdom of sloped walls; that one comes right out of the books.

h2O....Nice monologue; it means alot to me.
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The cracks,3 of them, ran 6-7' deep, from inside the basin to the backside of the dam, and were about a foot wide at the top
You musta been sick...and scared! You noted in your previous post the hindsight of processing the soil by adding t-s to temper the clay. At the risk of redundency, I want to make sure that you meant the entire core mass....? Based on YOUR experience, would this have been wise for your project? It certainly synch's with Bob Lusk's post c/o Otto's expertise.