Thanks for the accolades guys .. It's great to hear from people who appreciate the same things I do .. I hope to get around the site enough this winter and look up all your ponds as I am sure they took just as much thought and work as mine did ..
To answer some questions .. The type of soil where the pond is, consisted of a gravel/clay base with ROCK .. LOTS OF ROCK ..
I actually had it all built once (the pond that is).. then got some advice (good or bad yet to be determined) that I should have lined it with clay .. so to be on the safe side .. I took all the rock and fabric back out .. trucked in around 1500 yards of clay and lined the sides .. then put new geotextyle fabric down and replaced the rocks .. People thought I was absolutely crazy and they may have been right .. but I did not want to worry about the pond holding water. The standing joke is, most people dig ponds, I built mine.
As for the source .. there are 4 above ground springs that feed the pond .. tapping into each spring I found that there are ledges with fissures that let the water escape .. hence an above ground spring .. In the five years I have owned the property .. I have seen the springs slow considerably during the hot dry summer months but never stop
