Alaska Moves To Buy Acreage For Proposed Port of Anchorage

A $1 million down payment on 1,200 acres of land is about to be put down by the state of Alaska for land on an island just offshore from Anchorage International Airport, with plans to develop a major seaport there.

A letter of intent was signed recently by Alaska Governor Walter J. Hickel for the state to buy land on Fire Island for port use. Roy Huhndorf, president of Cook Inlet Region Inc., a native corporation that owns the island, agreed to sell the state 200 acres for $1 million and to consider the money as down payment on up to another 1,000 acres at $5,000 an acre.

The region around Anchorage needs the Fire Island port if it hopes to handle trade on a world-class basis, Governor Hickel, who frequently describes Alaska as the geographic crossroads of the world, said.

Deputy Press secretary to Governor Hickel, John Manly, said land on the west side of Fire Island would be developed into container, breakbulk, petroleum, cold storage and fishing boat terminals.

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