Herbert Lang.

• Author: Phelps, Jack E.
• Position: Head of Anchorage Sand and Gravel Company Inc. - Special Section: Alaska Business Hall of Fame

The Alaska Highway was only five years old and statehood was more than a decade away when Herbert Lang first came to Alaska. He came because "there had to be some place better in the world," and he found that some place in Alaska's vast, unpopulated land and awe-inspiring mountains. But many come to Alaska; Lang stayed to play a major part in building his adopted state.

Lang enrolled in the University of Alaska, receiving a degree in agriculture in 1951. After a stint in the Army during the Korean conflict, Lang studied for his MBA at the University of Pennsylvania. Returning to Alaska, he went to work forthe territorial Department of Agriculture. Eventually, he moved over to the land office and, after statehood, continued with the state Division of Land. While there, he was involved in writing land leasing and homestead policies for the infant state.

But the challenge began to wear thin for Lang and, as "things became more bureaucratic," he left state government and went into real estate as a broker and appraiser. He was so employed in 1964 when the earthquake hit, and the incident led to an abrupt change in the course of his career. The old Anchorage Sand & Gravel (AS&G) plant downtown was badly damaged by the quake, and the owners sought Lang's talents to help them assess their options. The company decided to sell; Lang was interested.

BUILDING AN EMPIRE

"I put together a group to buy the company, and the deal closed in early 1965. Part of the deal was that I would run it," Lang says.

He's been running it ever since, and under his leadership the company grew into a small empire of aggregates and block, concrete and sand, ready-mix and asphalt. From the window of Lang's office on O'Malley Road, most of what you can see directly to the west belongs to the company. A plot of land a half-mile long between O'Malley and Klatt makes up the heart of Anchorage Sand & Gravel's operations.

During Lang's leadership, Anchorage Sand & Gravel has grown from a 20-acre site on First Avenue into an enterprise that sprawls over 90 acres at two locations. Revenues have increased eight-fold. The original plant, badly damaged by the earthquake, was replaced in 1965. That operation was replaced in turn by a newer plant in 1987, complete with the most modern electronic controls.

New services were added. In the late 1970s, Dimond Fabricators Inc. was added to provide reinforcing steel of all kinds. Another wholly-owned subsidiary, Alaska Soil Recycling, was...