Every spring the first wild salmon of the season come up the Copper River, and chefs from Seattle to New York wait for them. Copper River reds and kings are prized above almost any fish in America — rich, deep-colored, and fatty, because they fuel up for one of the longest, hardest river migrations anywhere, fighting glacial current for nearly three hundred miles to spawn. The first catch of the year is news; the first box flown south is a small celebration. When the copper mines closed, Cordova turned to the water, and the salmon fleet has been the heart of the town ever since.
For a few decades Cordova was a copper town. Then, in 1938, the ore ran out, the mines closed, and the last train left. The railway was abandoned — its rails pulled up, its trestles left to the weather — and the Million Dollar Bridge carried its final load. A lesser town might have vanished with the copper. Cordova didn’t, because it had something the mountains could neither give nor take away: a river full of salmon.
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.
