My first post here. Really like the site so far. Just what I needed. So, here's my tale of woe. I have three ponds that were built, oh, maybe in the late 1960's. The water source is a very tiny rill that flows down from a nearby (Pocono) "mountain". The biggest pond, aptly named "Big Pond" flows into "Mystery Pond". When I bought the place there was a primitive spillway connecting the two. There was also a small stream bed flowing from a side of Big Pond that I believe is the original route of the rill. During heavy rains, the spillway became a rapids and the pond wall separating the two ponds was rapidly deteriorating. So, I had a monster load of coarse stone delivered and hauled it into the spillway, effectively closing it. Now the little side stream bed took the flow of water. That all worded just fine.
Next, I built a pond wall of those 26lb. interlocking wall blocks that you get at the big box stores. I set the first row into the mud at the pond edge and then dug out (by hand) the goo from the bottom of Mystery Pond to chuck over my new wall. Over that summer, the wall rose to be 6 blocks high. It was magnificent. I was certain it would outlive me and be viewed upon by future generations as marvelous as the pyramids. However...
It lasted about 2 years and then erosion and weather began to take its toll. Even tho' the wall blocks interconnect at the back making each ascending block an inch behind the one under it, the wall collapsed forward into Mystery Pond. Each successive rain event caused the wall to lean ever more precariously forward until the inevitable happened. The wall began to collapse into the pond.
So, after that long-winded explanation, my question to you, my ponding mentors, is how to I re-erect the pond wall? What do I lay in place under the first row of wall blocks to prevent its sinking into the goo of the pond? My pond is inaccessible to all heavy equipment as the area is thickly forested, so a primitive hand-hauled solution is required.
Interestingly the goo that I chucked over the wall while it was under construction has retained the shape of the original wall and has NOT eroded. ANY advice would be very welcomed.
