Hello everyone, I'm brand new to the forum, so any and all advice is perfect. I bought some property (central Illinois) and it has 1 large ravine and a smaller ravine that met at the low end where I'm going to build a dam. I've already had it logged out, all left over trees, brush and everything else has been cleaned up and either burned or completely removed. I plan on doing the damn build myself,I have great soil plenty of clay very close to the dam. I've talked to the Army Corp and the state everything is fine as long as I don't exceed a 25ft. tall dam. I plan to go as high as 25ft, with my fretboard at 22ft. The point of where the dam is being constructed width is a pinch point so from side to side is around 100ft long(dam length). Do I need to run the core deep into both sides(they are all clay) and go as high as my water level(22ft.) Or can I core into both sides let's say 4ft. and build up from that point to kinda lock it into the sides as well? I plan on a 2:1 slope on both sides of the dam. Next question, seeming it's clay everywhere do I need to strip out all(or as much as I can) of the topsoil in the pond area from dam to the shallow end? If not does it all need to be compacted or can I just leave it all along and let it fill?
