City of Cordova, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska, United States
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- Cordova
- City of Cordova
- Incorporated City
- population 1,128 on SE shore of Orca Inlet, opposite Hawkins I., Chugach Mts.
- Named by Michael J. Heney, builder of the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad, about 1906. A post office was established here in October 1906 (Ricks, 1965, p. 14). The town had its origin as the railroad terminus and ocean shipping port for the copper ore shipped from the Kennicott mine up the Copper River. "On April 8, 1911, Cordova celebrated 'Copper Day,' when the first trainload of copper ore, approximately 1,200 tons of it, arrived from the mines and was poured into the holds of the steamship Northwestern, bound for the smelter at Tacoma (Washington)" (Roguszka, 1964, p. 9). The name of the town was derived from the original name "Puerto Cordova," given to what is now known as Orca Bay, by Senor Don Calvador Fidalgo who visted the region in 1790.
- 60.542777860° 32' 34.0"N-145.7575000145° 45' 27.0"W
- Orca 2.9 mi. NE
- Crystal Falls 4.1 mi. S
- Whitshed 8.5 mi. SW
- 2,257
- 25 m
- 518879801
- Updated Apr 24, 2020