Mike--
We were able to get the pond put back together on Wednesday. Everything went really well. We dug out the bottom of the dam all the way down to the rock shelf. The dam was VERY SOFT and I don't think had ever seen the likes of a compacter. That and the dirt was predominantly sandy loam. We discovered that the original pond builder had put a layer of decent clay over a thin plastic liner but had probably gone that route instead of doing proper dirt work. Earlier soils tests had confirmed we had good clay on our property so we dug a huge pit (nearly big enough to completly bury a single wide trailer) and carried over 30 dumptruck loads of clay into the bottom of the pond and compacted it with a sheepsfoot in 8 in. lifts. Let me tell you, that dirt compacted great. This was after spending three solid days digging a trench 10ft. down to the rock, about 8ft. wide(so the hoe ram and the compactor could travel in the bottom)and about 70ft. long. The banks of the dam were so saturated with water and so soft they kept caving in during excavation. We also had to pump out water that was sitting on the rock shelf and would seep into the trench. They don't call Tennessee "rocky top" for nothing. Once you get down to the layer of limestone, you are not going down any further none to easy. We did not see any evidence of cracks or crevices where our water was going. In fact, it was just a giant flat slab of rock. We even shot grade on it and there was only 2 inches worth of difference in the whole thing. Ironically, we were a little relieved to find the dam so poorly built and wet because it made us feel we were on the right track to repairing the pond. We then put the soft loam we had excavated from the dam back in the hole we dug the clay from. When I left to go turkey hunting in Alabama last Thursday, we had just disconnected to sump pump and were letting the pond start to fill back up. I couldn't believe it when I returned yesterday to find the local rains and the small stream had already filled the bottom of the pond about 2-3ft. deep. We are hopeful we have fixed the problems. I hope to send you some pictures of our work and of a pond full of water. I really appreciate the help you offered. As soon as I get the pictures, I will send them to you.