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Cordova is located at the southeastern end of Prince William Sound in the Gulf of Alaska. The community was built on Orca Inlet, at the base of Eyak Mountain. It lies 52 air miles southeast of Valdez and 150 miles southeast of Anchorage. The area has historically been the home to Aleuts, with the addition of migrating Athabascan and Tlingit natives who called themselves Eyaks. Alaskan Natives of other descents also settled in Cordova. Orca Inlet was originally named "Puerto Cordova" by Don Salvador Fidalgo in 1790. The town of Cordova was named in 1906 by Michael Heney, builder of the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad. Cordova became the railroad terminus and ocean shipping port for copper ore from the Kennecott Mine up the Copper River. The Bonanza-Kennecott Mines operated until 1938 and yielded over $200 million in copper, silver and gold. The Katalla oil field produced until 1933, when it was destroyed by fire. Fishing became the economic base in the early 1940s. Cordova has a significant Alaska Native population with an active Village Council. Commercial fishing and subsistence are central to the community's culture. Cordova supports a large fishing fleet for Prince William Sound and several fish processing plants. 393 residents hold commercial fishing permits, and nearly half of all households have someone working in commercial harvesting or processing. Copper River red salmon, pink salmon, herring, halibut, bottom fish and other fisheries are harvested. Tourism is on the increase - two cruise ship companies began docking in Cordova in 1998. The largest employers are North Pacific Processors, Cordova School District, hospital, City, and State Department of Transportation. The U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Coast Guard maintain personnel in Cordova. In 1989, the Prince William Sound Science Center was established to study and monitor the ecosystem of the Sound. For
more information about Cordova visit their website at: |
