Cordova is a community on the southeastern shore of Orca Inlet across from Hawkins Island in eastern Prince William Sound, about 100 miles (160 km) east-southeast of Whittier and 45 miles (72 km) south-southeast of Valdez, Alaska. Orca Inlet was originally named Puerto Cordova in 1790 after Spanish Admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova by Salvador Fidalgo y Lopegarcía, a Spanish explorer who led an expedition to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. The town was named after the inlet in 1906 by Michael J. Heney, the builder of the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad, when a rail terminal and post office were established for the Kennecott copper mines. Cordova is flanked to the east by Mount Eyak and to the south by the Heney Range, separated by the lowlands of Odiak Slough, Odiak Lagoon, and Eyak Lake. These mountains are part of the Chugach Range within the Chugach National Forest. The Chugach Mountains are a heavily glaciated region forming a major portion of the Prince William terrane, now classified as part of the Southern Margin Composite terrane, one of the world’s largest accretionary complexes. The bedrock surrounding Cordova is part of the Orca Group, which formed during the Late Paleocene to Eocene epochs. This formation consists of a thick sequence of sedimentary rocks, including graywacke sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, and conglomerate, representing turbidity current deposits in a deep submarine fan. In the Eocene, volcanic magma intruded these sedimentary layers, forming basalt with pillowed, massive, sills, or crudely columnar flows. These erosion-resistant rocks are exemplified by Mount Eyak. The landscape around Cordova has been heavily shaped by glaciers. During the Last Glacial Maximum, glaciers covered most of central and southern Alaska and the adjacent continental shelf, forming a network of ice caps and piedmont lobes as a northwestern extension of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Glacier retreat began 22,000–20,000 years ago along the Gulf of Alaska, with ice margins reaching their modern positions by the start of the Holocene, about 11,000 years ago.

Archaeological sites in the Prince William Sound region indicate that humans occupied the area around 4,400 years ago. Prehistoric humans likely inhabited the area much earlier, but evidence of their presence has been destroyed by post-glacial sea-level rise. Several groups have historically lived in the area, engaging in warfare and trade. This exchange of ideas and goods made the region a center of cultural interaction. The upper Copper River basin is the traditional home of the Ahtna, an Athapaskan-speaking people. The Copper River Delta is traditionally home to the Eyak, whose language is related to Athapaskan. The Eyak reputedly migrated down the Copper River from Alaska’s interior about 3,500 years ago, likely attracted by the rich salmon fishing grounds. There, they encountered the Chugach Sugpiat of Prince William Sound, an Alutiiq people with a maritime culture. The Chugach are related to the Koniag, another Alutiiq group, whose territory extends from present-day Kodiak Island to Cook Inlet. The Tlingit inhabited the coast from Southeast Alaska to Yakutat and were expanding westward. Due to their small population, the Eyak were frequently raided, with their territorial boundaries under constant pressure from the Chugach to the west and the Tlingit to the east. However, the Tlingit maintained better relations with the Eyak, leading to intermarriage and assimilation. The first contact between Alaska Natives and Europeans occurred in 1741, when Vitus Bering’s second Russian expedition reached Kayak Island. By the 1780s, several European ships had explored Prince William Sound. In 1793, the Russians established a post near Nuchek and explored the Copper River. They recognized the Eyak as distinct from the Chugach and marked their territory on maps. The Russians also traded with the Eyak and, in the 1800s, sent Russian Orthodox missionaries to establish a church. The Alaska Purchase of 1867 transferred the territory from Russia to the United States, prompting an influx of prospectors, miners, fishers, and loggers. As elsewhere in North America, contact with Euro-American diseases devastated Native populations.

The Pacific Packing Company, owned by Louis Sloss and Company of San Francisco, built a salmon cannery known as the Odiak Cannery at Odiak Slough in 1888. The cannery operated for a few years before joining the Alaska Packers Association in 1893. This association ran the cannery until 1905 and sold it in 1906 to the Copper River and Northwestern Railway Company, which was planning to build a railroad from Odiak to the Copper River’s headwaters at Kennecott. The Pacific Steam Whaling Company established a second salmon cannery at Odiak in 1889. After a fire in 1895, the canning equipment was moved to Orca, about three miles (4.8 km) to the northeast. By 1898, when the Harriman Expedition visited Orca, the cannery had expanded to three buildings. Discarded salmon heads and fins along the coast created a foul odor. About 200 Chinese laborers were brought from San Francisco each season, working long hours for low wages. The town of Cordova originated as the railroad terminus and ocean shipping port for copper ore from the Kennecott mine, 196 miles (315 km) up the Copper River. Michael J. Heney purchased land for a townsite on March 26, 1906. A week later, crews arrived to begin work on the railroad. Surveyors from Valdez laid out the first town lots, which were sold at auction in May 1908. As the railroad expanded, the town grew, establishing schools, businesses, a hospital, and utilities. After the railroad was completed, Cordova became the transportation hub for ore from Kennecott. From 1911 to 1938, over 200 million tons (181 million tonnes) of copper ore were transported through Cordova to a smelter in Tacoma, Washington. Today, companies such as Copper River Seafoods, 60 Degrees North Seafoods, Trident Seafoods, and Ocean Beauty Seafoods operate fish processing facilities for fresh, frozen, and canned salmon, as well as salmon caviar, halibut, black cod, Pacific cod, and rockfish. Commercial fishing remains the main industry, with half of all Cordova households having at least one member involved in fishing or processing. All five Pacific salmon species are caught, notably the early-run Chinook and sockeye salmon from the Copper River. Wild fish stocks are now supplemented by hatcheries in Prince William Sound and on the Copper River. Read more here and here. Explore more of Cordova and Orca Inlet here: