1976 Arctic Circle newsletter, happy 15th anniversary

1976 Arctic Circle newsletter, racing news for 76

1976 Arctic Cat, fun in the snow

1976 Arctic Cat Snodeo

1976 Arctic Circle newsletter, production of the 1977 models underway

1976 Arctic Circle newsletter, snowmobile and boat trailers

1976 Arctic Circle newsletter,annual foreman snowmobile outing

1976 Jerry Bassett from Snowgoer checking a Pantera on the dyno

1976 Charlie Lofton driving a Pantera on the dyno

1976 Arctic founder Edgar Hetteen

1976 the all new Pantera

1976 Arctic racer, Charlie Lofton

1976 Arctic Circle newsletter, quality control department

1976 Arctic Circle newsletter, workmens comp info

1976 Larry Coltom winning the Hetteen Cup in Alexandria, MN

1976 Edgar Hetteen, Larry Coltom and the Hetteen Cup in Alexandria, MN

1976 Arctic Circle newsletter, emergency care course

1976 Arctic Circle newsletter, Attorney General Warren Spannus and his Cats

1976 Arctic Circle newsletter, did you know?

1976 Arctic Circle newsletter, company sports teams

1976 Arctic Circle newsletter, engineering and fiberglass department

Marine products from Arctic Enterprises

1976 Arctic Circle newsletter, new Nantucket 26' V from Silverline

1976 Arctic Z Racing News, Team Arctic spirits are high

1976 ArctiCard owners card

1976 Arctic Enterprises news, building the $1,000 snowmobile

1976 Arctic Enterprises employes don't show up due to strike

1976 Snowmobile industry board of directors meeting

1976 Arctic Enterprises introduces new Spirit 50/1 oil

1976 Arctic Enterprises producing Kawasaki Sno-Jet snowmobiles

1976 Arctic Enterprises building 3,000 Rupp snowmobiles for 1977

1976 Boundary Waters snowmobile ban

1976 Arctic Enterprises and the Canada-Cross expedition

****1976 Edgar Hetteen and the dream****

   The line of bicycles proved to be unsuccessful and General Leisure proved to be a costly mistake, leading to its divestiture in 1973. But these ancillary businesses were the least of Arctic Enterprises' problems. The demand for snowmobiles tapered off during the early years of the 1970s, beginning their downward path in 1971 and resulting in Arctic Enterprises' most disastrous year in 1974. If it was any consolation for the employees and management in Thief River Falls, who in the space of a few months had watched their prolific rise screech to a halt, Arctic Enterprises was not alone in its downward free-fall. Across the country, snowmobile manufacturers were reeling from the debilitative effects of depressed demand, with many going out of business. In 1970, when the snowmobile industry was thriving, there were more than 100 brands of snowmobiles on the market; by 1976, when the worst of the harsh economic times was over, the number of brands on the market had plunged precipitously to a mere 13.