Snow Valley
Today, Carman/Dufferin is well known for its golf course and for Stephenfield Provincial Park, which offers a range of camping, boating and other recreational facilities.
The western edge of Dufferin Municipality abuts on the low hills and valleys of the escarpment that once formed the bounds of Glacial Lake Agassiz. Although lacking the agriculture potential of more easterly portions of the municipality, this part of the municipality has always had its own riches to offer and has long been a drawing card for tourists and sports enthusiasts.
During the early years of settlement, woodlots in the hills provided hundreds of cords of wood to heat homes as far east as Sperling; dense forest areas were cleared for lumber; before 1900, clay is said to have been mined here to operate the Carman brick factory. When these natural resources were no longer available, the area continued to yield new riches in the form of recreational facilities.
Snow Valley Ski area operated for many years on SW 19-6-7w along the CNR railway tracks and the South Boyne River. The CNR began clearing ski slopes pre-WWII. During the war, the slopes were used for training soldiers in winter exercises using mixed terrain. After WWII, Frank Roy, a CNR road-master, civil engineer and avid skier supervised installation of lifts and buildings (First Aid hut, coffee shop/warm-up building and ladies’ hut). Special trains brought skiers from Winnipeg each Sunday, returning in the evening.
Snow Valley closed as a CNR operation in 1953; the ski slide later operated for many years under private ownership. A prolonged period of poor snow conditions resulted in closure of downhill skiing at Snow Valley and neighbouring Ski Birch. When the rail line closed, Roseisle station was moved to Snow Valley for use as a ski lodge. Although no longer open for downhill skiing, several kilometres of the local cross-country ski club trails still traverse this beautiful portion of the Dufferin terrain.
[See also: History of the RM of Dufferin, 1880-1980, pp.283 -285,]
August 2022
Snow Valley. It’s also encouraging to receive queries from well beyond the local community. This past month we heard from a contact in Ontario who is researching former ski operations across Canada. He read our brief website profile on Snow Valley and had further questions about dates and location of the site. We were able to share a link to Cliff McPherson’s informative account in the RM history book along with information on nearby Ski Birch.