RESERVOIR BUILDING 57 



be started, moving the dirt from the center to the banks, and each 

 scraper load should be spread and lumps broken with a shovel at 

 once, leveling and rilling hoof prints so that all tramping or 

 pressure of the scraper in passing may tend toward even packing 

 of the soil. All spots not reached by the team or tools should be 

 tramped by the shoveler so that no loose dirt may be covered. 

 This work should be continued all through the building. The 

 harrow should follow the plow in the bottom before the scraper 

 moves the dirt to the bank. 



Sixth: The outflow pipe should be put in early. A wooden 

 box is often used having an interior space of six by six inches, 

 but a four or six inch lap-welded steel or cast iron pipe is vastly 

 better. It should have an elbow turned up on the inside so that 

 a plug with a long handle can be used to open or close the exit. 

 A valve is better than a plug, but it costs more. The pipe should 

 be bedded in a mass of concrete so that it will not be loosened by 

 working the exit apparatus. 



Seventh: The width of the embankment is governed by its 

 height. The slopes with the best of earth should not be less than 

 two feet horizontal to one foot vertical on the inside; and if the 

 material is light, three to one on the outside will be none too 

 much. 



Eighth : The bottom and inside of the reservoir banks should 

 be well puddled. This is done by thorough plowing and harrowing 

 or cultivating to a depth of eight inches and then admitting water 

 slowly and keep the teams going with the harrow. Begin at the 

 center and work round and round until the mud becomes as 

 smooth as pancake batter, working and reworking away from 

 the center until the puddle is carried well up the sloping bank. 

 This puddle layer, if the soil is fitted for it, will make the pond 

 hold water. : : 



A Small Reservoir in Sandy Soil. The foregoing construc- 

 tion will not hold water if the materials are too coarse in char 

 acter. Where percolation is free a water-tight covering for the 

 bottom and banks must be provided. This can be done by hauling 

 in clay for a puddle or the reservoir after shaping may be cemented. 

 In parts of the state where asphaltum is abundant this material 

 is very satisfactorily, used, the asphaltum being melted, mixed 

 with sand and spread on hot and smoothed down well with hot 

 shovels and hoes. 



