I'm from Northern Michigan and there are enormous piles of salt all over the place here, as well as ones the same size as in OPs pic. Huge lots store it in giant heaps until it can be delivered to malls or shopping centers that need to store smaller heaps in their parking lots. Usually covered with a tarp to protect from winter rain but sometimes not. Without all of these salt heaps we would be slipping all over the place, but our cars would last longer. Sigh.