Our Cordova logo carries the Alaska bear over “Alaska Territory · Est. 1959,” the year Alaska became a state — the shared emblem of every Merlin Classics Alaska town. Printed in clean, distressed retro black-and-white that reads like an old cannery crate stamp or an outfitter’s brand, the bear stands for Alaska as a whole; what makes this one Cordova is everything behind it — the Million Dollar Bridge between its glaciers, the copper trains and the abandoned rails, the Copper River reds, and a fishing town you can only reach by boat or plane.
The bridge existed for one reason: copper. In the early 1900s some of the richest copper ore on earth was found in the mountains at Kennecott, and the Alaska Syndicate — J.P. Morgan and the Guggenheim family — set out to haul it to tidewater. They hired Michael Heney, the “Irish Prince” who had helped build the White Pass railroad, to run a line 196 miles down the Copper River to an ice-free port. Heney chose the spot, named it Cordova in 1906 after an old Spanish name for the harbor, and the town was founded in 1908 as the railroad’s ocean terminus. From 1911 to 1938, Kennecott copper rolled down the rails and onto ships bound south.
Why People Visit Cordova
Cordova rewards travelers who want the real, working edge of Alaska: a fishing fleet at the dock, glaciers and a great river delta within reach, world-class birding and salmon, and a town you have to make an effort to reach. Bring rain gear and time.
