From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Jan. 28, 1972:

An unnamed “member of the Journal-World staff” had written an article describing the newest craze in outdoor winter recreation. “Ten years ago, the word ‘snowmobile’ was hardly ever spoken and only a relatively few daring souls could even describe the new machines,” he or she wrote. “The United States now has 1 1/2 million snowmobiles, and another 600,000 will be sold this year…. Kansas won’t have many snowmobiles unless some tremendous change occurs in the weather pattern. The contraptions are simply no good without several inches of snow and some dependability of white ground covering through December, January, February and March.” The writer pointed out that those people who were caught up in the new sport could easily find resorts to the west and north of Kansas where snowmobilers were welcome.