Hello all! I was very pleased to find that there was a site dedicated to ponds. This will solve a lot of questions going through my head...or create more...

Anywho, my dream as a child was to have acreage with a log cabin, a couple of ponds, horses and dogs, no neighbors, etc... My father never fullfilled that so alas I must.

My wife and I bought 45 acres in lower Michigan (near Decatur). There are several lakes in the area and the water table is pretty high according to the local health department. (I went to pull a permit for septic and well and I require an above ground septic since they claim the water table is at 2 feet! Of course they are wrong because my potential bilding site is at the highest point of the property which would mean I would have a lake already at the lowest point).

The soil is different at various parts of my property. I have sandy loomy soil higher up to muckesh type in the lower end. At that lower end if it rains it holds water pretty well especially when my drainage ditches haven't been cleaned out for 40 years. And those ditches (if they were cleaned out) drain into a water inlet (which runs on one side of my property) to one of the lakes. I read a bit on this site and it was said that you need a clay bottom to hold water because you can not depend on a water table. I'm just not sure how far down and if there is a clay layer down below. I figured having a 10 to 12 foot depth on one end and a long shallow (3'-4') on the other end. Just need to know what I need to do first.

Funny though, since I had a baby girl 7 month ago and I'm more into getting this going now for her than I was for myself. I swore I wouldn't sell my lifted wrangler and rolex but I did and am about to buy a 4WD backhoe.

Which leads me to my next question. I went to a few auctions and for some reason backhoes went up in price and I'm talking used ones like 15-20 years old. Then put 4WD and an e-hoe on it and now your upper teens and more. I finally came accross a deal on a 1989 JCB 1400B erops 4WD backhoe. I was able to negotiate the price down to 10K. From what I have seen that's a darn good price for a 4WD backhoe that's 16 years old. It has no e-hoe but I believe that one has a 15'-16.5' dig depth (I don't plan on digging that deep anyway).
But I never operated a JCB and know nothing of them. I hear good things nothing bad just that i'ts a little harder to get parts because there are not as many dealers around for them as there are Case and Deere. But I do prefer to have a 2 lever control for the hoe which this one does have and the big plus again it's 4WD. Do you guys have any thoughts on JCB's? For that matter can I depend on a backhoe to dog the pond out without going through the expense of getting someone with an excavator in there to do it?

Sorry I wrote the length of a book above but I wasn't sure where I was going to get help and ideas for the pond and want you guys to know what is happening and how with every step of the way.

I do need to mention that I have aireal maps and us-gov soil maps and geological surveys for the property. I am also working with the DNR, US wildlife Fish N Game, and the local NRCS. I figured their advice is free and worth listening to.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Darius...