Tuesday, April 9 will be recorded as the official ice-out date for Fountain Lake this year, according to Bill Malepsy.

Wednesday, April 10, 2002

Tuesday, April 9 will be recorded as the official ice-out date for Fountain Lake this year, according to Bill Malepsy. He said the last stubborn chunks of winter ice melted away in Dane Bay about 8 a.m.

Malepsy is continuing a local tradition of recording ice-out dates for Fountain Lake that started 90 years ago.

Peter Boulay, assistant state climatologist at the State Climatology Office at the University of Minnesota, said the recording of ice-out dates for Fountain Lake &uot;might be the third-longest&uot; in Minnesota. He said the longest-known recording of ice-out dates stated in 1867 for Lake Osakis near Alexandria, but hasn’t been consistent. The recording of ice-out dates for Lake Minnetonka stated in 1870 and has been consistent since 1887, Boulay said.

Boulay added that the state office has been listing ice-out dates for Albert Lea Lake since 1991. And for this year he said the ice-out date is listed as March 28.

This year’s ice-out date for Fountain Lake is three days earlier than the April 12 recorded for 2001.

The earliest ice-out date since 1912 was recorded on March 7, 2000. The latest recorded ice-out date for this lake is still April 27, 1951.

Malepsy has observed and recorded the ice-out dates for Fountain Lake since the spring of 1969. He’s continuing a local tradition started nine decades ago by John Edwin &uot;Pop&uot; Murtaugh.

Murtaugh started recording the ice-out date in the spring of 1912. He was then the operator of the Casino, a lakeside dance hall and canoe and rowboat rental service located at the north end of Newton Avenue. The melting of the ice cover on Fountain Lake was a prime business concern for Murtaugh. He would reportedly paddle a canoe all the way around the lake’s shoreline, including the bays, to check on the status of the ice cover.

Murtaugh recorded these ice-out dates in a small notebook. This notebook, incidentally, is still being used by Malepsy.

The rule used by Murtaugh, and later by Malepsy, since 1912 to determine the actual ice-out date is based on the day. when there’s only water visible on all parts of the lake, including Dane and Edgewater Bays.

&uot;Pop&uot; Murtaugh died in 1969. His friend, Bill Malepsy, then took over the local tradition of establishing and recording the yearly ice-out dates.

Malepsy bases his yearly observations on reports from several friends, plus driving around the lake to check several places where remnants of ice like to linger on for just a few more days.

Bill Malepsy and his son Mark operate Bill and Mark’s Barber Shop on East Clark Street.