Snowmobiling: Minnesota’s High Flying Pass Time
As the bitter cold of mid December sets in here in northern Minnesota, many begin to wonder what we Minnesotans do to pass the time. Well, there is ice fishing, downhill skiing, snowshoeing, and the most popular, snowmobiling. Minnesota has over 22,000 miles of groomed and maintained trails that join to form a super highway that carves through beautiful forests, stunning lakes and many of the other unseen masterpieces of Minnesota’s landscape, located right in Stern Rubber’s back yard.
These machines that carve through the snow have a long legacy in Minnesota, and one of Stern’s customers, Polaris, played a major role in introducing these machines to the world. In 1954, Edgar Hetteen and Allan Hetteen were partners in the Hetteen Hoist and Derrick shop in Roseau, Minnesota. Their employees, David Johnson, Paul Knochenmus and Orlen Johnson, while on a hunting trip, took a grain silo conveyor belt and an old Chevy bumper and developed a machine that could float through the snow to their desired hunting locations. Yet upon returning from the trip and presenting their machine to Edgar, he was very skeptical of this product, and had the men sell the machine for $465, in order to meet company payroll.
Although the idea was not completely accepted, the employees continued to build snowmobiles, and in 1956 the Polaris Sno Traveler was the first production model to roll off the assembly line. This original model weighed close to 1000 pounds, and moved at speeds of about 20 mph. Following this stunning new machine, many other companies began developing snowmobiles and in the 1960’s, Polaris began to develop a much smaller and lighter consumer sized sled to compete with Skidoo. In 1965, Polaris released its new Mustang which offered a lighter, front end based engine, and a compact body style. This sled became a big hit as a family snowmobile and boosted Polaris’s sales.
Throughout the 1960’s and 70’s, Polaris continued to develop machines similar to their 1965 model, which sprung them to the top of the snowmobile industry. As time progressed, so did the ideas and technology at Polaris, in the early 80’s the company began creating a new “Indy” style snowmobile, which offered an independent front suspension, and a wider stance. This style of sled would continue through the 1990’s, including the Indy Storm, Ultra and Trail lines. By the late 1990’s, the company had introduced a new style of sled in which they called the Rocky Mountain King(RMK) which was a specific mountain based all terrain sled, that is still manufactured today. Since the turn of the century, Polaris has continued to introduce new, and improved snowmobiles including the IQ, and the Rush which is very similar to their line today. Although Polaris is known for their snowmobiles, they are so much more than that. The company produces many other recreation vehicles including Victory and Indian motorcycles, ATV’s, and side by sides.
Today, snowmobiling is a multi-billion dollar industry, yet not just the production of the machines, but the resorts, the restaurants, and gas stations all flourish when the snow flies and the riders hit the trail for a fun day in the outdoors. Without a small farm repair company in Roseau, Minnesota, named Hetteen Hoist and Derrick (Polaris) introducing us all to the snowmobile industry and revolutionizing the recreational vehicle world, we all may spend our free time much differently.