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Spring thaw can be a real b!tch sometimes...

My dad was raised in Chicago, but ended up a DamnYankee. He used to tell us stories about how as a kid he and buddies knew where to start poking around for lost change in melting snow. I don't know if that was BS but it sounded pretty cool to a Ga kid who rarely saw over an inch of snow.

Did your dad ever say anything about the Polar Bear "club"? They only meet one day of the year. New Years Day, a number of people take a dip in Lake Michigan.

Most areas don't stay covered with snow all winter, every winter where I live & I'm north of Chicago. The big piles created by snow plows usually last all season, specially the ones by big parking lots. Can't say I ever found any buried coins, but finding the snow shovel again in the spring... snow plows seem to come around the moment you take a break from shoveling out the last batch of hard frozen joy they've ditched at the end of your driveway.

As soon as lakes freeze around here, many become populated with ice shanties, from the very basic to some quite elaborate dwellings. Every spring some of them fall through the melting ice.

Fish cribs are placed or built on the ice of some lakes. It's easier to get huge logs out in the middle of a lake when you can walk & drive your truck on the lake. In the spring, nature takes its course & the good game fish have a new place to breed.

Some of my Norwegian ancestors operated a couple of huge saw mills & a portion of handling logs involved sledding them. When you're talking about big timber for the ship building industry & horse power involved horses, a northern climate was very helpful.

I don't know if the lake in the article freezes over very often, cuz of its size. I couldn't ignore the possibility... Oh look, here's a nice flat place to build our village. :o)