For 11 years Allred's business, the Tractor Factor, has been using farming equipment to launch fishing boats into Cook Inlet. Along the way he has cultivated friendships and repeat customers. But most importantly to Allred, he has planted the seeds of responsibility in a handful of local young people.
"From my perspective it's a great place for young men to come and have a summer job," Allred said. "They learn more than just what we are doing here."
Sitting in the tiny cabin that serves as his office, located a short cast from the Inlet surf at high tide, Allred and two-thirds of his employees, Eric Alexander and Aaron Langeliers, warmed themselves next to a small woodstove in the center of the room.
They had just come in from a rainy Monday morning of boat launches and tractor maintenance.
"I'm proud of the young men who've come through here," said Allred.
As summer jobs go, driving tractors on the beach seems fun enough. But Alexander, 21, an eight-year employee, said a positive work environment adds to the enjoyment.
"Everybody else that has worked here has worked at least two years," Alexander said.
Ironically, the beach these young men work on all summer is a Memorial Day party site popular with their peers that gets out of hand just about every year.
To Allred, discipline is important both at work and in life.
Allred said that he is often hard on his employees, and tries to correct behavior problems before they get out of hand. But he said it is all worthwhile.
"We need a few good men in this world we are living in," he said. "And that's what I'm trying to do here, more than anything."
Allred has also turned a unique business idea into a recognizable icon of the area. He said that over 150 local people and 30 or more charter boats use his launching and retrieving service every year, and it all started around a card table.
"We were sitting around playing cards, and one of the local people here mentioned that someone ought to get a tractor and come down to the beach and provide a service," Allred said. "That just kind of stuck in my brain. The next couple days I call the park service, ask them if they'd be interested. That winter, they said yes.
"I went out and got the red tractor, there up in Anchorage, bought it, and came down here with the park's blessing on a one-year renewable contract," he said. "And here we are 10 years later."
Allred has since added two other tractors to his stable. All three are 1970's vintage and have been modified with lift kits and oversized tires to handle the job.
The work itself is often difficult. Inclement weather and fast-changing tides make boat retrieval challenging.
"There is a lot of English that you have to play," said Allred. "You've got tides, you've got waves, you've got wind. And they can be coming from all different directions."
Allred said it took him a while to get the hang of the job. And during the first years, when it was just himself and one tractor, the job left him exhausted by the end of the season.
The experience he gained has helped make the job easier today, but Allred said a returning clientele base that also understands the challenges of his task has helped.
The tractor driver's goal is the position the trailer so the boat captain is in the best possible position for landing, Allred said. He was quick to point out that there is teamwork involved in loading and unloading boats.
"We work together," he said. "We have good clients. They appreciate us and we appreciate them."
And often, Allred said, these clients become his friends.
One such friend huddled around the woodstove that day with the Tractor Factor employees.
Allred said he met the man the first year he worked on the beach.
The second year, the man returned, this time with a newborn daughter.
"She's a 9-year old child (today)," Allred said, adding that he's watched her grow up.
"She caught her first king in the river this year," he said, proudly.
Ben Stuart can be reached at bstuart@homernews.com.
"And that's why we keep coming back," added Langeliers, 23, now in his second year working for Allred.
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