Cordova

History

In 1790, the inlet in front of the current Cordova townsite was named Puerto Cordova by Spanish explorer Salvador Fidalgo. The city of Cordova was named after it, although the inlet itself was later renamed the Orca Inlet. Cordova proper was founded as a result of the discovery of high-grade copper ore at Kennecott, north of Cordova. A group of surveyors from Valdez laid out a town site and Michael James Heney purchased half the land for the terminus of the Copper River and Northwestern Railway after determining that the neighboring town of Katalla was a poor harbor. Heney and his crew held a brief ceremony to organize the town on March 26, 1906. A week later, crews arrived to begin work on the railroad. The first lots in the new town site, making up the heart of present-day Cordova, were sold at auction in May 1908. As the railroad grew, so did the town. Eventually schools, businesses, a hospital, and utilities were established. After the railroad was completed, Cordova became the transportation hub for the ore coming out of Kennecott. From 1911 to 1938, more than 200 million tons of copper ore were transported through Cordova. On July 17, 1923, less than three weeks before his death in San Francisco, President Warren G. Harding and a large Presidential party aboard the U.S.S. Henderson visited Cordova as part of his "Voyage of Understanding" tour of Alaska. According to his biographer Francis Russell, the town was "ablaze with flags for the great occssion, even though the President and (his wife) had to ride through the waving streets in the only available transportation−an Army truck." The area around Cordova was historically home to the Eyak, with a population of Chugach to the west, and occasional visits from Ahtna and Tlingit people for trade or battle.…

Geography

Cordova is located within the Chugach National Forest at (60.542805, −145.760164). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water. The total area is 18.87% water. Cordova has a maritime-influenced subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc) bordering on both a humid continental climate (Dfb) and a subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc), characterised by cool to mild, rainy summers and moderately cold, snowy winters. Precipitation is very heavy year round. The cool temperatures and heavy rainfall are caused by orographic lift. Westerly winds coming off the North Pacific Ocean are forced upwards by the Chugach Mountains which causes the air mass to cool and creates clouds and precipitation. Yearly average precipitation is , with 125 rainy days out of the year. Snow falls mostly from December to March, and an average of falls yearly. Winter temperatures reach lows of and the warmest summer temperatures are around . Most official climate data is recorded at the airport, which is 11 miles from the settlement. Temperatures and precipitation vary drastically between the city and the airport, and precipitation at the city is commonly twice that of the airport.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Bald Eagle

  Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,688
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  1,535
• Glaucous-winged Gull

  Larus glaucescens J.F.Naumann, 1840 · Aves
  1,362
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,232
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,217
• Short-billed Gull

  Larus brachyrhynchus Richardson, 1831 · Aves
  1,064
• Bufflehead

  Bucephala albeola (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  996
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  965

Most recent

• M 2.6 — 2026-10-09
  16 km NE of Valdez, Alaska
• M 3.2 — 2026-09-20
  57 km ENE of Chenega, Alaska
• M 3.5 — 2026-09-12
  21 km NE of Valdez, Alaska
• M 2.6 — 2026-07-20
  14 km SE of Valdez, Alaska
• M 2.5 — 2026-07-15
  4 km SE of Tatitlek, Alaska
• M 3 — 2026-07-10
  25 km SW of Tatitlek, Alaska