Snow Treasure

Snow Treasure
by Marie McSwigan
Report by J. J. Hinrichs
Peter was a plain boy who lived in Norway, which is in the Arctic Circle, so there was snow, snow, snow almost all year. The children always went sledding, everyday. I’m going to tell you how the children saved their country’s money by hiding it from the Nazis.

Peter’s father was in charge of the bank and the bank had 12 tons of gold. When the Nazis invaded, the Norweigians did not want the Nazis to get the gold. So they hid it in a cave that they had built out of ice blocks. They were trying to get the gold to “The Snake” which was a river that led right to the ocean and was so thin that if you were in an airplane you still couldn’t see it.

The children went sledding every day and the adults thought the children should take the gold because they were not as suspicious. Everyday the children would go to the cave where an old man would place gold onto their sleds. Each brick would weigh 75 pounds. Then they put a burlap sack with some squishy stuff on top and then they’d lay on top and be on their way. It was 12 miles from the cave to the Snake.

They would pass the German camp and there was one mean Nazi ruler who wanted to make Peter his assistant to polish his boots. One day they were hiding the gold and made snowmen on top of the bricks. Then one of them, the captain, was kicking one of the snowmen down. Peter threw a snowball at him before he found the gold brick. They caught Peter and put him in a room. Peter was saved and they were on their way to America. That is the story of Peter and his snow treasure.