Sheridan Valley Ski Club

Sheridan Valley Ski Area near Lewiston, Michigan, sat in the hills of Montmorency County about seven miles northeast of Lewiston on County Road 612, roughly halfway to Atlanta. It started as a hunting country sideline. In January 1948 newspapers reported an entirely new ski area at Lewiston with five runs and a tow, and that February the Detroit Free Press noted that Werner's Rustic Lodge in Lewiston was pitching skiers for the first time instead of hunters, sending them to the Sheridan Valley ski area with two slopes and tows of 600 and 1,000 feet. A year later Lewiston was advertising skiing at Sheridan Valley alongside skating, tobogganing, fox and wildcat hunting, and a winter carnival with a Snow Queen.

By about 1959 a Consumers Power guide listed seven slopes from 600 to 1,800 feet long, four rope tows, rentals, lessons and hot lunches. The area then became the Sheridan Valley Ski Club, a family club that bought its 119 acres in 1965. In 1977 SKI Magazine described a hill that was hard to find on purpose: families bought a one-time share for $200 and paid $95 a year, the public could ski for $5, and local children who could not afford it got free tickets and loaner equipment. About 80 of the 180 shareholder families still skied there, most of them from downstate.

The hill had a 280-foot vertical drop, five slopes and trails, two Poma lifts and a rope tow. The day lodge had a big open fireplace and a small snack bar, and members brought their own lunches and held steak roasts and dances. It was open on weekends. In the mid-1970s three of its young racers earned spots on the Central Division junior team.

In November 1997 the Detroit Free Press reported that Sheridan Valley had shut down. A sportsmen's club now uses the old ski property on Sheridan Valley Road.