I'm a near neighbor from Lindale, with our property just South of Van.
Our 10 acre lake was built in the early 1950s, reportedly with mules and sleds. It had a lot of big trees and extreme damage from beavers and nutria. The top of the dam was only 7 to 8 feet wide, which made it tricky to drive on. We spent a chuck of money about 4 years ago for a fellow to come in with his excavator and bull dozer to work on the dam. He removed a portion of the trees and cleaned it up a lot, but this did nothing for the damage from the beavers.
With the drought, our lake level dropped about 6 feet, down to about 3 acres, and we were able to really see the how many holes and tunnels the beavers had created. I got estimates of $40,000 to $50,000 of fix it, which was way out of my budget.
We were able to find a mid-size excavator and started work ourselves. We realized that working from the top of the dam was not going to be productive, and started building a road in the front (lakeside) of the dam. This enabled us to remove a large portion of the dam to the backwall. With the severe beaver damage, that portion of the dam had to be replaced. It could never have been patched.
We have continued to build up the road with good clay, and it, along with the remaining dam is now our new dam, The top will be 20 to 30 feet wide.
We are now 1 - 1/2 years into this project, but can see major progress. I know this was the right solution for our situation, and I am really looking forward to having a 10 acre lake again.
