The 1997 49ers.

• Position: Alaskan-owned/Alaska-based companies - Directory

Hang onto your hats. This year's list is bigger and better than previous years because more businesses than ever responded to our request for information. Thus we can say, with no risk of hyperbole, that our 1997 list of Alaska's top 49 Alaskan-owned, Alaska-based companies is more thorough and complete than it has ever been.

There are 12 newcomers on the list, the biggest single change of names since we first starting keeping this record more than a dozen years ago. And it took a much bigger number for annual revenues just to make the list. Thanks to the large number of newcomers this year's #49 shows annual revenues of $19.8 million. Last year #49 checked in with $9.7 million.

Just a teaser or two to get you started... More Fairbanks businesses made it this year than ever before. And they landed on the list at the expense of a number of Anchorage companies that appeared last year. In other words, there's been a slight decline in the number of Anchorage companies making the list. You'll also find a couple more names from southeastern Alaska, again more or less at the expense of some Anchorage companies.

In the final analysis, though, our list this year paints a rosy picture for Alaskan-owned businesses. With a...