Would using a non suspension corrected fork make for better a better "basket packer"
 

There's a not quite C&V aluminum Rock Hopper down at the scrap yard. It has a suspension fork that may or may not be salvageable. I have a ridgid non suspension fork that would fit, and as this would be a bit shorter will increase the head tube angle and reduce the trail a bit. If I kept this bike it would probably end up a single speed and spend most it's time on pavement. I like having a wald basket for cruising around, so what I'm wondering is whether the fork swap would make this bike handle a front load better than the high trail junker I'm riding now.

I'm not sure, I think if your frame is the era of 80-100m of suspension travel you are probably golden.

IME low trail handles a front load better than high trail.

Went back and got it with out the crappy non original wheels fo $10.
The fork I have in mind is from a nicer Trek wrek, and is threaded, so hopefully I can get it to work with some combination of headset and spacers.

For 10 dollars it's worth finding out.

The thing I would worry about in this case is changing the axle-crown measurement too much. You might be better off with a suspension-corrected rigid fork that you would have to pay real money for.
Get a rough measurement of the suspension A-C, subtract 25% of the travel, and see how close that is to the A-C of the fork you want to replace it with. There are online calculators that should help you decide if you changed the head tube angle and trail too much to result in reasonable handling. The likelihood is it's going to increase trail, which isn't great for a front basket.

I just ordered a suspension corrected Surly fork for my 97 Gary Fisher Hoo Koo e Koo I remember the bike being quick steering and all but impossible to ride no hands. If anything, I'd like to slacken the head tube to make the bike a little more stable.

​

If the result is too-quick steering, the OP can just throw something in their basket. All my bikes except mountain bikes have front bags, so it's easy to slow down the steering a little.

Also, an angleset might help.