Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Drone footage of pond build - Livingston Co., MO

Here are a few more pictures of the process and a couple links to videos that my brother took one day when he was out checking on the project.

A few of the pictures will show the first real clay being pushed up on the dam. I had SO much black dirt down in this ravine that I actually got a little worried about having enough clay to line everything. The north side of the pond was very gently sloping and I was able to dig out as much clay as I would ever need to put about a 3' layer along the entire front side of the dam and track it in. Most of the basin was already clay by the time I finish digging everything out. I did hit a layer of shale about 10" thick that I packed good clay over anywhere it was exposed. I know a sheepsfoot roller would have been ideal, but it wasn't an option for me at this point. I did everything I could with what I had to compact it as best I could. I know a dozer's footprint isn't heavy comparatively, but I'm hoping having a larger one made some difference. Time will tell.

The 8" drain pipe and seep collar were delivered on 12/22 and were immediately welded and put in place as a buddy of mine has a portable welder and got right to work. We hooked the pipe to the corner of the dozer blade and used my skid steer to move it into position as best we could. The pipe was almost 120' long, so it was not easy to do with a big machine and limited space. There are a lot of logistics to think about when placing the pipe! I tried to push some clay mix over the top of the dam on either side of the opening I had left so I could backfill the pipe once in position. I had to hand dig under the pipe for the seep collar to fit into our trench. I feel like my dam compaction is pretty good as this was nearly impossible to do even with a good sharp tile spade. We used the dozer blade to massage it down into final position. All of this would have been a lot easier with a track hoe for sure.

If you watch the videos, you'll see me starting to back fill the drain pipe from the back side of the dam. It is pretty darn steep at this point and I was glad to have a couple days of running the dozer under my belt before this portion of the project. I won't lie, there is a certain point when operating a 40 ton piece of equipment that isn't yours, on a steep grade, with little room to maneuver that makes you as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!

You won't see it in the videos, but I pushed just enough dirt in there to cover the pipe and plate well and then began tracking over it several times to compact that area. I ran across it and up and down it several times. It was so nice to be able to run all along the back of the dam after that and start to really shape it.

Once the pipe was in, I was really committed to the project. I needed to make sure and get the basin and dam finished before it froze solid (just 2 days away) or began to fill with water.

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