The Washington - Alaska Connection.

• Author: SMITH, DAWNELL

Washington has close ties to Alaska and businesses there are finding their niche in the Great Land

In a state with a rich history of big booms and terrible busts, businesses have come and gone, thrived and dived, and made and lost big bucks in an ever-hanging economic landscape. Some have managed to survive and evolve over decades and even centuries.

Businesses like Washington-based NC Machinery and Spenard Builders Supply--or CSX Lines, which operates out of Seattle--thrive through resilience and flexibility. They see Alaska as a viable, exciting market and strive to respond to its needs.

Here's a look at these three companies and how they work for the long haul.

N C Machinery

About the same time our country's founders penned their names on the Declaration of Independence, two wealthy Siberian fur merchants established N C Machinery in the Far North. They didn't do business by that name back then, but they did form the backbone of a company that evolved into one of the first Caterpillar distributors in the country. This year, N C celebrates its 75th year as a Cat dealer and service provider.

It sounds like a big jump from fur trading to supplying heavy equipment, but the change happened over two centuries as the company changed hands and names. It started as the Russian American Co., then became known as Alaska Commercial Co. when the United States bought Alaska from the Russians in 1867 Eventually, leaders branched off to form Northern Commercial. Alaska Commercial is still in operation today, providing food and merchandise to rural communities.

Northern Commercial's area of business changed even more dramatically. Fur trading gave way to outfitting gold prospectors, which led to the riverboat and steamship business. From there, it went into aviation and, eventually, into construction where it found a lucrative niche as a Caterpillar supplier for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline project.

"You name it, we did it," said Bob Opple, director of marketing. "We're probably the oldest company in the state, kind of like Canada's Hudson Bay Co." Old photos show N C's red company flag flying above mercantile outposts from Sitka to the Yukon.

At one time, N C operated everything from Union 76 stations to what we currently know as Nordstrom's. It even ran the largest salmon-packing operation in the world until divestment of that division in the late 1950s.

Today, N C does only one thing--it deals Caterpillar equipment in Alaska and Western Washington...