It all started with a newspaper ad and a dare.
Scott Johnson had worked for 20 years in residential construction, advancing to superintendent. Then the bottom fell out of the housing market in 1987 in Alaska. He went to work at an oilfield on the North Slope running heavy equipment, but he didn’t like it much.
Then in 1989, he saw the newspaper ad: a backhoe and dozer with only 400 hours each and a trailer and a dump truck for $65,000. For that price, the truck and trailer were essentially thrown in for free.
So he and his father, who had been a mechanic at the N C Machinery Caterpillar dealership, went out to take a look. On the way back, Scott began to have second thoughts.