Stern Rubber has many customers, and makes many different products for each, including gate valves for American Valve and Hydrant, watch bands for Shinola and Filson. Along with these companies, Stern also has many customers in the business of recreational vehicles, and one of those companies is Arctic Cat.
Arctic Cat was formed in 1960 as Polar Manufacturing, in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, by Edgar Hetteen. Hetteen, who was the former co-founder of Polaris Industries in Roseau, Minnesota, known for developing the first snowmobile, took his skills from Polaris and developed what he called Polar Manufacturing. Yet Hetteen soon changed the name to Arctic Enterprises in 1960, just as the companies first snowmobiles rolled off the line.
Hetteen’s snowmobile developing ability continued throughout the 60’s, and in 1970 Arctic Cat launched their new Boss Cat line. This new style of sled, was a set of custom made snowmobiles meant for derby, and drag racing. Yet these speed machines were only a small portion of Hetteen’s new company. Throughout the 70’s, Arctic Cat continued to release many new trail sleds, including the Lynx, the Panther, the Trail Cat, the Jag, and the famous children’s snowmobile, the Kitty Kat. Although Hetteen’s new company seemed to the general public to be direct competition to Polaris Industries. Both David Johnson(owner of Polaris), and Hetteen said they never looked at it that way, and would often help one another out.
As 1980 approached, things for Hetteen and his new company seemed to be going great, and in an attempt to expand the company, Arctic Cat started producing other products such as mini-bikes. and lawn mowers, and bought out several boat manufactures including, Silver Line, Lund, and Sprit Marine. Although the company made this effort to grow, a year with little snow, and over production, pushed Arctic Cat over the edge of bankruptcy in 1982.
Within two years, a new company named Arctco was developed to continue the production of Arctic Cat snowmobiles. The company survived the rest of the 1980’s and continued to be a success at keeping the company alive. By 1996, Arctco decided to change the name back to Arctic Cat. Today Arctic Cat has grown to much more than just snowmobiles, and plays a major role in the world of recreational vehicles, from multiple models of ATVs to side-by-sides. Since 1996, Arctic Cat has moved the corporate realm of the company to Plymouth Minnesota, but continues to do the majority of their manufacturing in Theif River Falls.
As for Edgar Hetteen, his work with recreational vehicles did not end at Arctic Cat. In 1983 Hetteen, along with Gary Lemke co-founded All-Season-Vehicles (ASV) in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. ASV is known for making rubber tracked utility vehicles, but initially built trail grooming equipment for snowmobile trails, and ski hills, and is said to have been one of Hetteen’s most personally profitable business ventures. Hetteen retired from ASV in 2005, and later passed away in 2011. As his obituary states, he was a snowmobile pioneer and a visionary. His legacy in the snowmobile and recreational vehicle industry will never be forgotten.