In 1960 I returned from an organized ski trip in Europe and was contacted by my brother Campbell Seagram. Cam had a cottage on Penn Lake next to Deerhurst Lodge. He suggested that I contact Bill Waterhouse regarding a property he had an option on to purchase from the Farnsworth family. Bill Waterhouse and his friend Graham Brown had the vision to develop this property into a ski hill. Today we know it as Hidden Valley Highlands Ski Area.
I contacted Bill Waterhouse regarding the development opportunity, and I too began to share his vision of creating a ski hill on the property. My brother Campbell Seagram, and I invested the initial funds necessary to get the project started. This included the ski chalet, the chairlift and the rope tow. The rope tow was replaced later with a T Bar.
Bill Waterhouse ran the day-to-day operations of Hidden Valley including promoting the winter ski facilities and creating revenue in the summer months. I was also involved in the promotional end of Hidden Valley such as making a promotional film for ski club groups to see to encourage them to ski at Hidden Valley. I visited every travel agency in the Toronto area encouraging them to promote ski weeks at Hidden Valley.
I arranged a meeting with Don Naylor, the CEO of Traders Finance to get them involved in the project. We sold them half interest in the Chalet development and used those funds to improve the ski equipment and infrastructure. I also arranged with Doug Hammond of Beaver Lumber to put up some ski chalets on spec at the top of the T-Bar.
My continued focus was raising the funds necessary for the expansion of the ski facilities. To create more revenue in the summer season, the ski chalet was used for teenagers in the area to have a place to dance and have fun. For support from the teenage families, the local police in the area were asked to check the cars for any alcohol, which kept alcohol use at a minimum. Some members of the ski patrol at Hidden Valley were also policeman from the Huntsville area.
As time went by, Hidden Valley dancing in the summer for the teenagers at the chalet became one of the largest dance destinations in Ontario. The chalet had to be enlarged because of the summer dance attendance and by doing so, some of the worldwide well-known entertainers, such as the Hollies from England and Neal Dimond from the US performed at Hidden Valley. Each performance drew large crowds. Due to the success of the summer entertainment and the promotion of skiing in the winter, it allowed the ski hill to continue to develop and grow. When Bill Waterhouse purchased Deerhurst Lodge from his father, I purchased Bill’s interest in Hidden Valley.
The next major step in the development was the first Holiday Inn Resort Hotel providing visitors to enjoy the ski hill with accommodation and entertainment in a beautiful setting. Weddings, corporate retreats and local celebrations could now be enjoyed at Hidden Valley. With continued popularity, it allowed the ski club to evolve providing more runs, better trails and improved lifts. The ski club offered lessons to beginners, intermediate skiers and even had races. Hidden Valley grew up and in doing so produced an Olympian: Dara Howell who won a gold medal in slopestyle at Sochi 2014. From the vision of Bill Waterhouse, Hidden Valley has become a wonderful place to promote winter sports in the special community of Huntsville.