Glen Gutzman, an administrative assistant at the Crosby MN.Armory and Eugene Harrison, an area painting contractor, along with his son, Richard Harrison, began the business in a garage workshop.The home-grown company of Trail-A-Sled, named because early machines could be towed behind a car by raising the skis and lowering wheels. the propeller-driven air sleds were powered by war surplus airplane engines in 1959.

Business operations eventually included pontoon boats. But the major enterprise came from snowmobiles and the first was constructed in 1961. Made of fiberglass and with an iron track, the snowmobile could reach speeds of 30 mph.Sold under another name, the snowmobile had a red hood and two headlights.

In 1964, 20 people were employed in the snowmobile manufacturing business. There were eight different models with speed options reaching 40 mph.Trail-A-Sled's molded rubber track gave the business an edge and became a big influence in the Crosby company's entry into the market. The business became self sufficient and had a machine shop in Minneapolis. Most other snowmobile makers were using steel cleats, which Harrison said were noisy and not as fast.

By 1966, Trail-A-Sled accomplished another expansion moving into the old skating rink in the arena in Crosby MN. Two years later, the business began construction on an 38,500 square foot assembly plant that eventually produced 180 snowmobiles each day. Even after suffering major losses of 1,000 engines and $2 million in damages in a Nov. 2, 1967, fire, the company produced 8,000 sleds in the 1967-1968 season.

By 1969, Atlanta-based Fuqua Industries purchased the business. That year the company took on the new name of Scorpion Inc.

Growth continued and by 1976 the company employed 350 with an estimated payroll of $2 million. Sleds carried stylized names such as Lil' Whip, which sported a 290 twin cylinder fan-cooled engine called the "Cuyuna." Just a few years later, the company was sold to Arctic Cat, who ran the business a year or two before moving operations to Thief River Falls. But as shoppers kept returning to major retail brands, the wide variety of smaller manufacturers were weeded out of the competition. In a February 1980 Arctic Cat was announcing layoffs, noting snowmobile purchases had steadily declined since 1971. At its peak, the snowmobile manufacturing company employed about 500 people. But by about 1980 the last Scorpions were being constructed at Thief River Falls.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Source: The Brainerd Daily Dispatch