The court ruled in January that the short tourist railway built by the Binkleys to take customers to the dredge amid the piles of gravel tailings crosses an easement of up to 100 feet owned by Reeves.Īfter the parties could not agree between 20 on the sale of the easement, Reeves built a rough dirt road on it. The companies paid about $4.8 million.įor three generations, the Binkleys have operated the Riverboat Discovery, expanding over the past few decades with a gold mining attraction now based on the property they bought from Holland America about 10 miles north of Fairbanks on the Old Steese Highway. He is a savvy businessman whose place in American legal history was assured when he successfully sued the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., after the oil companies appropriated his idea for a pipeline visitor center in Fox. Reeves is a larger-than-life character who had the vision and skills to turn a broken-down gold dredge into a major tourist attraction more than 35 years ago, later selling it to Holland America. There are strong wills on both sides, which is one reason why there have been mediation sessions, a non-jury trial and appeals to the Alaska Supreme Court. The warring parties are two of the most prominent families in the history of Interior Alaska tourism. While the decision is not the final word on the standoff, it gives Reeves an edge in a dispute that is likely to prove costly for the Binkleys. The Binkleys said Reeves planned to build a road, raise the grade 2.5 feet and start running big dump trucks to his commercial landfill, damaging their business.
The court last week rejected a claim from the Binkleys that Reeves improperly concealed his ownership of an easement across property they bought for the Binkley tourist railway that takes customers to the dredge for gold panning all summer long. 8 in Fox, a site visited by thousands of people from around the world every week. The Alaska Supreme Court has again decided in favor of Fairbanks land developer John Reeves in his long-running battle with the Binkley family over access to property near Gold Dredge No.
0 kommentar(er)
