part 3 continue the original adventure of edgar hetteens trek through alaska

The iron dogs were working. The expedition neared an end. Still, a day or so out of Fairbanks, the expedition fought high winds again, but at least, the temperature was 30 degrees above zero for a change. At a river crossing near Neana the group was helped by an automobile driver who lit the shoulder of the highway so the three machine drivers could see the path ahead. After an overnight at the Tortella Lodge, the crew was excited by the fact that they were within 24 hours of Fairbanks!

With a day left in the expedition, Edgar made some reflective notes in his diary.

"Wherever we stop people are very inquisitive about our machines and the distances we have come. We feel certain that these motor sleds will change the travel habits of this country," he wrote.
"The Sno-Traveler is about the most practical type of vehicle for winter transportation in this north country. Its track is narrow enough to travel dog sled trails and it is light enough for trans-shipment by airplane. In addition, it requires very little gasoline, no maintenance to speak of, and it is very simple to operate, with only the steering apparatus and throttle control."

The final day was warm. The snow was deep. But the Sno-Travelers finished the journey to Fairbanks and an official reception by the city.

Wrote Edgar, "Our overland journey from Bethel had covered a distance of 1,200 miles.

"We had finished the trip in 21 days, 19 of which actually were spent on the trail. We had suffered … no serious mishaps and yet we had come through some incredibly rough country in light vehicles that offer a relatively new type of transportation for the northern latitudes."

The three "snow tractors" as Edgar sometimes referred to the Sno-Travelers consumed 250 gallons of gasoline on the trip. The two 10 horsepower machines, towing the freight sleighs, averaged about 12 miles per gallon. The smaller seven horsepower Trailblazer averaged about 32 miles per gallon.

The machines proved they could handle the terrain. They proved they were reliable. They proved that snow machines had a rightful place in the ice and snow areas of the world.

And the expedition did what Hetteen wanted. With help from Kohler, the engine builder, the expedition garnered considerable national attention. National U. S. magazines and newspapers from across the country carried mention of the trip.

Edgar Hetteen, reflecting on what the trip meant to him personally and to Polaris Industries specifically, expresses mixed emotions. On the one hand he is proud of the accomplishment. He believes the trip advanced the state of snowmobiling by at least five years. On the other hand, the trip left him with bittersweet memories because it was to be the beginning of the end for his involvement in a company he had started 15 years previously.

"On May 1, 1960, I left Bethel, Alaska, after we had made our 1,200 mile trip into Fairbanks." Hetteen notes, in an interview nearly 30 years later, "In my opinion it was a trip that advanced the acceptance of snowmobiling by five years at minimum. We got a lot of press out of it, radio, television, newspaper, all kinds of stuff.

"We had a new product. We knew that the snowmobile was the next best thing to sex but the world didn't. After 10 years it started to pick up a little momentum."

Still, in spite of the publicity, in spite of the gain in momentum, things proved difficult when Hetteen returned home to Roseau.

"That trip really, maybe, cost us three grand," Edgar recalls. "When I came home the whole world was upside down. I was told that the president of Polaris cannot do these stupid, stupid things. After other things were told me… that was it...

"Because we had a preferred (stock) company, we had agreed to a board of directors. David, Allan and I were three directors. I called a directors' meeting and told them that when my daughter graduates in June of 1960, I'm through. Allan was named Pro Tempore president and I was out."

Ironically, the turmoil that awaited Edgar at the end of the most famous Polaris trip served as the catalyst for Edgar Hetteen's founding of Artic Enterprises in Thief River Falls, an hour's drive south of Polaris's Roseau base.