One of the nice things about historic photographs – please excuse the pun – is that they give a snapshot of an instant in time. This photograph is a particularly good example. Here we can see that transportation in Alaska in the “good old days” was principally by dogsled and wagon.  You will notice the variety of dogs making up the teams and what’s with the ear flaps on the hat on the man the third from the right? But the problem with historic photographs is we usually don’t spend much time looking at them. Often because they are in a book of photographs and there is always another one on the next page just as interesting. This particular photo is important not because of the dog teams in the foreground but the sign on the building in the background.  It is the story of America in a single image.  We are a nation founded on making money.  The New World was founded by businesses – and small businesses at that.  We are great because we buy and sell anything from anyone. We don’t care about a customer’s race, religion, pedigree or shoe size.  We are a nation founded on making money and dogsleds are fine-and-dandy but Sam Ross is the epitome of why we are the envy of the world.