Trucks in the Tundra: Alaska's multi-generational, family-owned transportation companies.
Author | Anderson, Tasha |
Position | TRANSPORTATION |
Alaska is all about transportation. It's a factor in every potential resource development project; it's a key component of building safe, functional communities; it's the means by which Alaskan's have access to oranges, candy canes, and Christmas trees. As Alaska's industries have advanced and innovated new programs and techniques, the transportation industry has matured to transport whatever materials those programs and techniques require.
Fortunately for Alaskans, many of the transportation companies servicing the state are home-grown: Carlile, now a member of the Saltchuk family of companies, was founded in 1980 in Alaska with two tractors. Lynden was established in Alaska in 1954 and has grown in to a multi-modal transportation organization comprised of more than fifteen companies.
Sourdough Express and Sourdough Transfer
While Lynden and Carlile both have extensive histories and a significant presence in Alaska, there are few companies--in any industry--that can boast a longer history in the Last Frontier than Sourdough, which was established in 1898 and continues to this day, under the same name, to be family owned and operated. Sourdough has two main lines: Sourdough Express primarily deals in freight (including bulk freight, less-than-truckload (LTL), temperature control, and trans-loading) while Sourdough Transfer provides moving and storage services. The company has offices in Fairbanks and Anchorage.
Bob Ellis started Sourdough in 1898 using dogsleds in the winter and horse-drawn wagons in the summer to move prospectors' gear to mining camps. Today, the company has 130 full-time employees and operates 75 power units and about 250 trailer units, according to Jeff Gregory, president of Sourdough Express and Sourdough Transfer. Gregory shares ownership of the company with his sisters: Debra Norum, VP of finance, and Karen Conover, VP of sales for the moving and storage division. The company states, "In the last twenty years, the Sourdough companies have seen continuous, controlled growth. This is due to the dedication, loyalty, and hard work of each and every employee."
Gregory says he officially started working at the company in 1975 when he was fourteen years old doing "anything they wanted me to do: shovel snow, shovel coal, clean floors, wash trucks. The yard boy was my title." As he grew up, "I did about every position you can think of--mover, expediter, truck driver, mechanic." Gregory was the one who moved to Anchorage in...
To continue reading
Request your trialCOPYRIGHT GALE, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.