posted 8 years ago
Swales and pond building was very popular back in the 50's and 60's and was often subsidized heavily by the USDA. My farm (9th generational) has swales and ponds dug from that era as well. In my case I was able to go back to the USDA-NRCS and the Soil and Water Conservation District and obtain the original conservation plan for my farm based in 1965! It was far different than it is today, they took arial photos and overlaid contours by drawing them over the map by hand, then making conservation plans from that, but I was able to see where the old swales originally were.
Today swales can be subsidized, but ponds are strictly not, at least in Maine. It is not because the USDA does not see merit in them so much, but because the logical place to build them is in wet ground which is protected under the Swamp Buster Protection Act. In other words they have kind of boxed themselves into a corner on regulations. Too bad. We did far more with our farm pond then terminate swales into it, and water our livestock; more than one game of pond hockey was played on that pond, and numerous ice skating parties happened. Now that pond is more of a liability and why I will not build another though I have an ideal spot for one, and a bulldozer to do the job. Again, because of regulations, I would not be able to spread manure on my field that is adjacent to it. With an "open water body", it limits what I can do with my land. Too bad...
But my suggestion for you is to go and check out your county's soil and water conservation district, and the USDA-NRCS (most of the situated in the same building) and see if they have the old conservation plan on file for your grandfather's farm. I am pretty sure they still do!