http://mwlsap.org/michigan/mi.htm#hollowsprings
Hi Mark:
Okay let’s just get this out of the way: “Hollow Springs” is a terrible name for a ski area. It somehow implies to me that as I am skiing down a slope it will collapse under me, being hollow, and land me in a very cold stream of water from a spring-fed stream. Not appealing.
Second, I think that newspaper clipping is a coded message to some criminal enterprise, letting them know that either the plan is a “go” or “no go”.
I’m sure it confused people when it was printed because there is no, absolutely no, evidence anywhere in land records, maps, aerial photos, or our other more secret sources that there was ever a ski area named “Hollow Springs” located ten miles west of Pontiac.
I’m led to conclude, then that the newspaper reporter somehow conflated “Teeple Hill” with “Hollow Springs” but as far as the evidence goes, I have found nothing.
So I’ll make my case: I’ve attached land records regarding section 30) transferring the western half of section 30 from EB Ford to the State of Michigan on an executor’s deed in 1946 – that’s 320 acres. We know from local historical sources that Edsel Ford’s estate was transferred to the Department of Conservation when Highland Rec was created (aka, 1946). The records bear that out. Pontiac Ski Club operated Teeple Hill on behalf of the Michigan Department of Conservation, according to other sources (mainly, your research into Teeple Hill). It was never a privately owned ski area, it was created by the state and operated by Pontiac Ski Club.
I looked up the land records for Alpine Valley, just to rule out some early operation as a ski area before Alpine Valley was there. The land was sold directly from the farmers that owned that land (someone named MW Borgman) to “Alpine Valley Ski Area, Inc” in 1961. Joe Kosik was the owner/builder of Alpine Valley, and he does appear in the land records and it looks like he’s making ownership changes to the land (transferring it to himself) in 1960 -61. So, the land was sold by J A Green to MW Borgman (who may have had an interest in AV, who knows?), and a life-lease granted to Green so he could live there, probably for life or until he got sick of the ski crowd. Borgman then sold it to Alpine Valley Ski Area, Inc, who in turn sold it to Joe Kosik, probably so he could do financial shenanigans with it. No evidence in the 1940s or early 50s of that land being used for any other purpose than farming.
So, here’s where we are:
No evidence of a new ski area shows up in any land records. I really think land ownership of a ski area would be under a corporate umbrella for insurance purposes and there’s no evidence of that in the records.
I’ve attached an aerial photo from 1951 and another from 1963. On either map, the green square roughly outlines Alpine Valley and the red square outlines the area around Teeple Hill – look for the long barn running north/south roughly in the center of the red square. That barn is at the “foot” of Teeple Hill according to the discussions on your website about the area.
Looking at the Alpine Valley site in 1951, it is surrounded by drainage ditches – the angled dark lines, suggesting it’s high ground which is wet at the base. There’s an area that looks very bright, like it’s cleared – it’s not, that’s an artifact of dry ground or a crop close to harvest – compare it to other fields around and they look similar. But there is no evidence there for slopes or landscaping to suggest slopes.
On the 1963 map, look at the amount of scarring on the landscape of Alpine Valley, where in 1951 there were drainage ditches and a dry crop, there’s clear evidence of landscaping. Those are the slopes, which may or may not be as old as two years old – construction was underway up into 1962 (an event was cancelled in 1962 because of construction). So, no evidence of any earlier ski operation. Also looking around that aerial view from 1951 (which is roughly 2 -3 miles east to west), I don’t see any other ski areas aside from Teeple Hill, and I sure don’t see scarring like you do on the Alpine Valley site.
From all of this, I conclude the newspaper reporter was wrong. The ski area that he referenced was Teeple Hill. Where he got Hollow Springs, I can’t say.
Then again, I could be wrong about all of this. Maybe there was some enterprising individual who turned his farm into a ski area – but I really think that would have gotten some press both before and after that 1950 article.
Anyway, these are the kind of research questions I love to get. Thank you for asking it, it was a lot of fun to answer!
Dave Decker
Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society
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