I am vaguely reminded of a dam Edward Rutsch found years ago in the
Mexico, NY, that had somewhat survived, though the apparent stream
coarse was no seen, it had been part of an impound, also no longer
seen, out in the wooded section they were surveying for a sewer
project (?). The bottom of it might have been so constructed then,
stepped with a platform in the middle of it and piled up with earth,
they thought from the isomorphic diagram that he presented, rather
than excavate it "for sure".

On the initial survey of Fort Drum, an Army installation now the
permanent site of the US Army 10th Mountain Division (which some
anthropologists were in in WWII) I saw a number of dams, and since
NASA World Wind 1.3 I revisited it in the USGS ortho mode (elevates
photos into 3D) I have seen a number more that point to the previous
occupations of the said 10,000 inhabitants who left in the 1940's. It
once had 4 iron foundries too, primarily bog iron and they made a
number of railroad axles and wheels for the fledgling railroads of the
United States back in the 19th century. When we were there many of the
Army Corps of Engineers jobs was blowing beaver dams that flooded the
various dirt roads, one even to Alpina, NY once (rumoured?) to become
a residence of Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (NW of Lake
Bonaparte), emperor Napoleon III (nephew of Napoleon I and emperor of
the French from 1852 to 1871 (1808-1873)) that were used formerly in
stationary tank and artillery firing, deep winter training, and
National Guard training, now modernized, as is most of the materiel of
the US Army. They may have done a study on the various dams there,
perhaps recorded somewhere when all the "wooden structures" were
removed. I saw recently to (however) they are hiring a "GIS
archeologist" to study the place further.