Starting a new year - and finishing a first decade.

Alaska is a great place to be a business journalist. The Great Land's vast resources, its bustling cities and empty landscapes, its booms and busts, and its colorful characters supply endless story ideas.

Alaska Business Monthly has covered all these angles since its inception, and it has been a rich and rewarding experience. We salute the industries, the businesses and individuals who make Alaska such a dynamic state, and we thank you, our readers, for your continued support and enthusiasm for our magazine.

We presented the premier issue of Alaska Business Monthly in January, 1985. According to Paul Laird, our first editor, it seemed like a good idea at the time, despite the recent demise of its predecessor, Alaska Business & Industry. As it turned out, 1985 was hardly a propitious moment to be launching a new business of any kind in Alaska, but the new publication has weathered more than a few economic storms.

Carol Smith, our current company president, was there at the founding and says, "We just felt that there was a need out there for in-depth reporting on business subjects that wasn't being met."

Looking back over Alaska Business Monthly's first decade, it's instructive to note the things that have changed -- and the things that haven't.

Take that premier issue, for example. One story, "Life Without Wien in the Bush," focused on change -- the results of the passing of what had been Alaska's strongest bush airline and a pillar of the business community.

But our cover featured Dan Cuddy, then chairman of First National Bank of Anchorage. Though Mr. Cuddy has turned over day-to-day operations of the bank to son David Cuddy and daughter Betsy Lawer, he remains a powerful presence at First National.

In that first year, ABM covered explosive growth in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Anchorage's newspaper war and the founding of the Alaska Railroad -- all important changes for the state. But other issues remain the same today: The timber industry was in trouble and Alaska was trying to build a high-tech computer industry. And the retail business was heating up in Anchorage with the opening of Costco, with people asking, "What do the retailers know that we don't?"

Back then in 1985, we published our first New 49ers list, a compilation that our readers have consistently looked forward to as one of our most interesting and informative pieces. That year, Carr-Gottstein topped the list, a feat the grocery chain would frequently accomplish until last year, when sale to Outside interests moved it to our Corporate 100 list.

Since the magazine's inception, a lot of companies have changed hands, merged or gone out of business. Arctic Slope Regional Corp., which has placed No. 2 for the last two years, weighed in at No. 13. Of the top five New 49ers from 1985, only two made the list last year, a remarkable measure of the currents that sweep the state's economy.

One project that Alaska Business Monthly has co-sponsored along with Junior Achievement of Alaska since it began in 1987 is the Alaska Business Hall of Fame. We're proud to be part of an effort that teaches young people about what personal initiative in the free enterprise system can do, and we believe that the personal stories of Alaska business legends such as Walter Hickel, "Mudhole" Smith and Larry Carr do more to teach the spirit of entrepreneurism than any number of MBA classes.

Over the years, ABM has covered a lot of stories -- stories that, taken together, are a history of the state's economy. In those wonderful days before the Exxon Valdez oil spill, we called the fight to open ANWR "Bambi vs. Godzilla," but predicted that telling who was Bambi and who was Godzilla would be difficult.

In January 1987, we ran the story, "The Incredible Shrinking Project," concerning Yukon Pacific's efforts to build a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope. So far, the project remains on the drawing boards (along with several other similar plans).

In 1989, Alaska Business Monthly began its annual November coverage of the Native corporations. Over the years, we have tracked the growth of these unique Alaska companies. Some have been successful beyond anyone's expectations; others have had to fight back bankruptcy. The success of Native corporations is not just interesting for Alaskans -- some say these hybrid enterprises could be models for the rest of the country and the world.

Of course, in March 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled some 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound. Looking back, it's surprising how many ABM stories this event influenced: the spill itself, fishing, individual companies such as Veco International, the rise of an international Alaska-based environmental industry and the fight to open ANWR, to name a few. Exxon and Prince William Sound fishermen still are contesting the effect of the spill, and the money is not yet finished circulating through the economy. It's amazing how much effect a careless moment had on the Alaska economy.

And over the years, Alaska Business Monthly faithfully (and, we think, accurately) reported the opportunities and challenges, the victories and defeats, of Alaska's industries: How the oil companies have met the inevitable decline of Prudhoe Bay with new discoveries on the North Slope and in Cook Inlet, and with new technology. The booms and busts in fishing. Timber and mining's on-again-off-again fortunes. The seemingly endless stream of record-breaking years for the tourism industry.

Alaska Business Monthly has charted the proliferation of regulations affecting business, particularly resource-development industries such as mining, timber and oil. A host of federally-mandated edicts on clean air and water, wetlands and hazardous materials have become crucial to the Alaska business person.

At ABM we have done our best to keep our readers up-to-date on what the regulations are, how they are affecting business, and how to comply most cost-effectively.

We have also brought to our readers the struggles of smaller companies and industries -- the continuing efforts to make a "Silicon Tundra," new ventures in manufacturing and new services, ingenious attempts to add value to our timber and fishing, and some uniquely Alaskan ventures such as Chris Kiana's Eskimo Yo-Yo, featured this month in a new column called "Wild & Crazy Alaskans." And during our first decade we won our share of awards for stories on timber, fishing, air transport, business development, privatization and individual businesses and entrepreneurs. Our first year, Alaska Business Monthly won two first place prizes from the Alaska Press Club. Many more were to follow.

The next year, another ABM story, "Privatization and the State of Alaska, Inc.," took an Alaska Press Club first, and in 1987, we won two more, for "Best Reporting" and "Best Feature." And in 1988, ABM won more first place awards for stories about the bailout of Alaska Mutual Bank and United Bank of Alaska (sort of takes you back, doesn't it?) and "Greenhouse Effect," an intriguing story on how the effects of climatic warming might cool down the Alaska economy. In the 1990s, the Alaska Press Women awarded a first prize for our personality profile of John Kelsey of Valdez Dock Co. that appeared in the January Alaska Business Hall of Fame section and for stories on Alaska-East Asia trade, international trade and growth in Alaska tourism.

In addition, ABM has won many more awards over the years for layout and illustration, editing and headline writing. Honors have come from the Alaska Press Club, Alaska Women's Press Club and from the Western Publications Association.

In its 10th anniversary year, Alaska Business Monthly continues its tradition of providing in-depth stories and useful information for our readers.

Last year, as a complement to our New 49ers Alaskan-owned, Alaska-based company listing, we established The Corporate 100, which provides vital information on the 100 largest organizations doing business in the state. Readers have told us that business directories are helpful, so we included more in 1993.

And we created "Inside Alaska Industry" to bring business news items from all aspects of the economy and all regions of the state to our readers.

We hope our coverage of Alaska's business people has served not just as a source of information but as inspiration for those who are just starting.

The personal accounts of men and women who have built great enterprises, such as this month's Junior Achievement Hall of Fame laureates, serve as examples of the frontier entrepreneur spirit that still burns bright in Alaska. Alaska Business Monthly was founded to serve those men and women who dream concretely, who have a goal and a plan to get there.

Once again, thanks to all our readers and advertisers; we hope you have enjoyed reading our magazine as much as we have enjoyed publishing it. We thank you for your continued support, and we hope to be here for many decades to come.