People were here long before the copper. The Eyak made the Copper River Delta and this corner of Prince William Sound their home, fishing the same runs that feed the town today and trading along the coast between their Tlingit and Alutiiq neighbors. The first cannery opened on Orca Inlet in 1889 — before the railroad, before the town — proof that the fish came first and have stayed longest. Cordova’s deepest story is not copper but salmon, and the people who have always known it.
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.
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.
