Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Major pond renovation

I started getting PB last March, and I have been checking out this message board for a year. I've noticed that everyone likes looking at photos so here are a few photos of my pond. I will add more later when work is complete for a before and after effect. [img]http://photobucket.com/albums/b173/jk81/?action=view¤t=039.jpg[/img]

http://photobucket.com/albums/b173/jk81/?action=view¤t=040.jpg

http://photobucket.com/albums/b173/jk81/?action=view¤t=041.jpg

http://photobucket.com/albums/b173/jk81/?action=view¤t=052.jpg

http://photobucket.com/albums/b173/jk81/?action=view¤t=pond005.jpg

Thanks for the photos. We'll want regular updates.

Good move getting the magazine. It will cut your mistakes by a lot! Everybody makes errors, but PB subscribers get to benefit from letting others (like me) make some of the mistakes first.

Bruce

Hawkeye,

Nice looking cows too. How big will the pond be when finished?

Hawkeye,

Welcome to Pond Boss. Looks like you've got a nice project in the works. Like Bruce said, keep us updated. I currently have two ponds, one was built without having the knowledge of PB and all its information. There is not enough space here to list the mistakes made on this pond. Good luck with your project.

ML,
Those aren't cows, thats movable structure.

Russ

Russ,

Based on the money I make (not) on cows, they would provide more benefit as movable strucutre...plus they fertilize in place.

How'd ya get the bulldozer out?

Here are a few more photos , it has been slow going because the track came off one of the dozers, and they have gotten stuck several times.

The pond was 1 acre when it was built 50 years ago and should be a little bigger now because the water should fill those 2 little fingers that are on both sides of those trees.

We are also going to build a fence around the pond which will be tricky with the hills. The last fence didn't last long, so we are going use the dozer to cut a ledge into the hills on both sides of the pond for a flat place for the fence and hopefully that will keep the cows out.

We are also going to use that concrete and large stones on the dam and on the steeps banks, and add some fish attracters and a dock, and maybe build another dry dam.

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Hawkeye:

If you don't mind...where is this located? It just seems VERY familiar with me. I'm from Columbus Junction (midway between Burlington and Iowa City). Can almost picture this location a few miles north of I-80, west of Tipton...am I close?

Looks like an interesting project. Can't wait to see how it ends up.

Here are a few more updated photos. Right now they are digging out the south end and using that dirt to fix all the cattle ruts and erosion.

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Man, how are they NOT getting stuck in that quagmire?

Matt,
I am located 5 miles west of Williamsburg south of I-80, not too far from Tipton. Tipton and Williamsburg are even in the same athletic conference, so you were not to far off.

They have gotten stuck several times. For the most part the hard stuff is done. They said this was the second worst pond they have seen for silt. The worst one though was not nearly as big.

The pond renovation is pretty much finished and we are happy with the results. It will end up being 1.05 acres less then we thought it would be but still a good sized pond for around here. We built another dry dam and filled in the rest of the cattle ruts and other erosion. All that is left to do is the overflow, dock, seeding, fence, and stocking fish.

I wanna see...I wanna see.
need the login password at Photobucket (if that's a wise idea...?)
edit: I just went back to some of the 2005 pics above...YIKES...looks like a monster! We need specifications (I tried to zoom into the bottom and swear that I saw the backside of China)

Probably about 1/4 of the pond is around 30 ft deep, I think they needed to go down that far to get clay for the dam. I was told that it was a very deep ravine before the pond and dry dams were first built 40 or 50 years ago. There was a heck of a lot of dirt, silt and muck the was moved.

The other day my dad found a Indian tomahawk/hatchet while he was walking around the pond. Does anyone know if finding something like that is common or a big deal? I thought it was pretty neat but nobody else seemed very impressed. Also, has anyone else found Indian artifacts on there property? Sorry if I got off topic a little bit.

Hawkeye,
you may wanna re-consider advertising complete access to your Photobucket acct. The 2700-some PB posters are honorable...it's the rest of the world that would concern me.
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V cool project. Looks like the classic ravine-turned-pond; tuff to get surface acres, but talk about deep! Thanks for sharing it with us

Hawkeye,

You really know how to give a guy pond envy! What a great looking pond and matching landscape. If possible, can you provide some final costs for the project?

My area is mostly woods with some farming so I love to see those rolling hills as shown in your photos. On occasion, we do find arrowheads but never hit upon a hatchet. Hopefully your dad won't run into the hatchet owner.

Is it me or is that a substantial watershed? Is that terracing in the last pic (slope/left of frame)?

I would guess the drainage area is probably 60 acres. The pasture is probably only half the watershed, the rest is row crop and farm yard. Up until several years ago there was still huge bass and catfish in it, and that was when it was 3 foot deep with cows in it.

There was 3 dry ponds that we patched up and we built another one on the other side of those trees for a total of 4, so there is 4 tile inlets dumping into the pond.

Hawkeye,
I'm a recent pond renovation/construction survivor and quite proud of what we did. Am new to the Pond Boss Forum and have been recently tapping the great knowledge of Bill Cody and others on the aeration forum and couldnt figure out how to post a picture. How did you post yours here? Probably a dumb question, but my attempts at copying and pasting or dragging and dropping into the "quick reply" message box did not work. What am i missing?

oh, BTW, Russ, you like rolling hills? If I can get my pics posted, check em out.

Thanks
Dave

...it took a little searching.
Try this link for instructions: Cecil\'s pic posting school
(about 1/3 way down the page)

Ok Dave bring it on.