Silver State Post, July 7, 2010 7 Boys I:,lJild engineering marvel Look out Army Corps of Engineers, you've got competition NOTICI" II Left: Jacob Beeman (middle) shows off his pond. The Deer Lodge boy built the pond with his brother Zach (left) and friend Brett Breitenbach (right). The pond took about three months for the three to build. Below: Zach Beeman holds one of the many frogs that call the pond home. SSP photo by Mark Eisenbeil. By Mark Eisenbeil All kids are different. Some like to play sports, while some enjoy hitting the books. Three Deer Lodge boys, brothers Jacob and Zach Beeman and neighbor and friend Brett Breitenbach, have been doing a little of each; sort of. The boys can be found throughout the day check- ing up on the fruits of their labors; a pond. The concept for the pond came about after Jacob visited a friend. "1 went over a friend's house and they had a really awesome pond," said Jacob, who added that he wasn't impressed with just the wa- ter aspect; to him, the pond signified life as well. "They had a bunch of big koi in it. Koi is a big goldfish, basically. So, that really in- spired me to build the pond," said Jacob. Brett, who mentioned that he and Jacob have been best friends for the past nine years, said that Jacob found the majority of his pond building ideas from surfing the Internet. "The Intemet has a lot of awesome ideas," said Jacob. After the research, next came the material gathering and building phase. "First we had to dig the hole, which was really hard, because at that time, the ground was still frozen," said Jacob. "When we first started digging it, we didn't think we'd succeed and make it, but we didn't stop," said Brett. After getting the hole dug, Jacob said they installed underlayment to cushion the pond liner. "1 used newspaper for that, but carpeting will work too. Then I put the liner in. It's PVC and holds the water in really gxt," said Jacob. Not wanting to have the liner show, Jacob said that he concealed it with rocks and lined the bottom with gravel. "We had to have hauled a good half ton of rocks that we put in there," said Jacob about the rocks for the pond. Also added were pieces of driftwo(xt, a bench built from driftwood, and even a sign proclaiming the pond's name. "1 have a sign that 1 put up there and 1 burnt the name into the wood. It says Jacobs Pond," said Jacob. "'We worked every day 'alter school and even on the weekends. It took about three months," said Bretc The 7x5-foot double- tiered pond sports several unique features. The first tier is one foot deep and basically for aquatic plants and stuff. The deeper tier, which is three and a half feet deep, is where the turtles and fish live. A submersible pump at the bottom of the pond provides water to a home-made filter made from a bucket and tow- els. When the filter bucket fills with water, it overflows through an outlet pipe and then cascades down a water- fall and back into the pond. "I have lots of animals living there. I have toads, a really big turtle, and all sorts of frogs. The frogs I have in there are Columbian Spotted frogs; they're native to tiffs area," Jacob said. "We get the frogs from the creek and by the next day, they're back at the creek, so we have to catch them again," said Zach. "The toads in the pond are the Western toad or Boreal toad. I also have sucker fish in there and I'll hopefully get some kN soon. The cool thing about them is that they adapt to the size of your pond. If you have a huge pond. they'll get to be huge; if you have a small pond, they'll be small. They're re- ally awesome." said Jacob. Jacob admitted that he was a slave driver at times with his companions, but in the end. they were all grateful F''' a" g p 1xln : in s u Youth Conserva- tion Corps (YCC) members Will Douddy (front) and Kevin Sarchet were busy last week dodging raindrops and painting vari- ous structures at the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site. The pair signed up for the YCC through the high school. "I've been work- ing hard and I love my job. It gives me something to do for the summer and I get to help out with the community," said Sarchet. Ranch maintenance man Willy King, who was overseeing the two, said they were doing a good job and were working out pretty good. The Youth Conservation Corps is a summer work youth program that has been going on at federally managed lands since its creation in 1970. SSP photo by Mark Einbeil. that they didn't give up. "I think it went really awesome. We put all that we could into that pond. 1 never thought 1 could do it, but with the help of Brett and Zach, we accomplished it. I'm really impressed with those two," Jacob said of his brother and friend. "It's really awesome, I think it's the best creation I've ever had," said Jacob. Deer Lodge Elementary School Regular Board Meeting Monday-July 12, 2010- 5 p.m. 1. Proposed Policy Revisions 2. Employment Vacancies 3. Golden Triangle Cooperative Agreement RAY PETERSON E00CIRIC, INC. RAY PETERSON  "" Fax (4061 563-2641 I iiiiiii1,11 i..i SATURDAY, JULY 17- 7 P.M.  Unique Gifts, Divine D&or and morel! 00zgaZ D E S I G 2'V C 0 M P A Now Open Daily 11:00 - 4:00 Bring this ad in for 25% off one item (few exclusiots apply) offer expires July 31, 2010 4,[lf>.+ 859=.RC3S E..= 11.6 ..C 13r)a d ,x ay. 1" h i I ilsbu rg N/l