Cordova is a small city located near the mouth of the
Copper RiverThe Copper River or Ahtna River is a 300-mile river in south-central Alaska in the United States. It drains a large region of the Wrangell Mountains and Chugach Mountains into the Gulf of Alaska...
in the
Valdez-Cordova Census AreaValdez-Cordova Census Area is a census area located in the state of Alaska, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 10,195. It is part of the unorganized borough and therefore has no borough seat...
,
AlaskaAlaska is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, at the head of
Orca InletOrca Inlet is an arm of Prince William Sound in southern Alaska, at .Orca inlet serves as an inlet to Prince William Sound from the Gulf of Alaska on the east and north sides of Hawkins Island....
on the east side of
Prince William SoundPrince William Sound is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System...
. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 2,327.
Cordova is located within the
Chugach National ForestThe Chugach National Forest is a 5.4 million acre United States National Forest in south central Alaska. It is located in the mountains surrounding Prince William Sound including the eastern Kenai Peninsula and the delta of the Copper River. It is the second-largest forest in the U.S...
at (60.542805, -145.760164).
According to the
United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
, the city has a total area of 75.6 square miles (195.9 km²), of which, 61.4 square miles (158.9 km²) of it is land and 14.3 square miles (37.0 km²) of it is water.
Cordova is a small city located near the mouth of the
Copper RiverThe Copper River or Ahtna River is a 300-mile river in south-central Alaska in the United States. It drains a large region of the Wrangell Mountains and Chugach Mountains into the Gulf of Alaska...
in the
Valdez-Cordova Census AreaValdez-Cordova Census Area is a census area located in the state of Alaska, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 10,195. It is part of the unorganized borough and therefore has no borough seat...
,
AlaskaAlaska is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, at the head of
Orca InletOrca Inlet is an arm of Prince William Sound in southern Alaska, at .Orca inlet serves as an inlet to Prince William Sound from the Gulf of Alaska on the east and north sides of Hawkins Island....
on the east side of
Prince William SoundPrince William Sound is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System...
. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 2,327.
Geography
Cordova is located within the
Chugach National ForestThe Chugach National Forest is a 5.4 million acre United States National Forest in south central Alaska. It is located in the mountains surrounding Prince William Sound including the eastern Kenai Peninsula and the delta of the Copper River. It is the second-largest forest in the U.S...
at (60.542805, -145.760164).
According to the
United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
, the city has a total area of 75.6 square miles (195.9 km²), of which, 61.4 square miles (158.9 km²) of it is land and 14.3 square miles (37.0 km²) of it is water. The total area is 18.87% water.
Demographics
As of the
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
of 2000, there were 2,454 people, 958 households, and 597 families residing in the city. The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
was 40.0/sq mi (15.4/km²). There are 1,099 housing units at an average density of 17.9/sq mi (6.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 71.11% White, 23.6% Native American, 10.07% Asian, 0.41% Black or African American, 1.34% from other races, and 6.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.06% of the population.
There were 958 households out of which 36.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.5% were
married couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.6% were non-families. 30.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.17.
In the city the population was spread out with 28.0% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 32.8% from 25 to 44, 25.4% from 45 to 64, and 6.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 119.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 120.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $50,114, and the median income for a family was $65,625. Males had a median income of $40,444 versus $26,985 for females. The
per capita incomePer capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income is usually reported in units of currency per year...
for the city was $25,256. About 4.3% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.2% of those under the age of 18 and 6.2% of those 65 and older.
Population of Cordova
| Year | Population |
|---|
| 1900 |
800 |
| 1920 |
1,000 |
| 1930 |
1,000 |
| 1940 |
900 |
| 1960 |
1,100 |
| 1970 |
1,200 |
| 1980 |
1,900 |
| 1990 |
2,100 |
| 2000 |
2,454 |
History
The area around Cordova was historically home to the
AleutThe Aleuts are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, United States and Kamchatka Krai, Russia.The name Aleut was given to the Unangan by Russian fur traders in the mid 18th century.-Location:The homeland of...
, with a population of Eyak to the east, and occasional visits from
AhtnaThe Ahtna are one of the tribes of Athabaskan people in Alaska. Their language, also called Ahtna, is facing extinction...
and
TlingitThe Tlingit are an Indigenous people of northwestern America. Their name for themselves is Lingít "people"...
people for trade or battle. Orca Inlet was named "Puerto Córdova", after the city of
Cordoba, Spain||-||-||}Córdoba is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. Located at 37.88° North, 4.77° West, on the Guadalquivir river, it was founded in ancient Roman times as Corduba by Claudius Marcellus...
, by
Don Salvador FidalgoSalvador Fidalgo was a Spanish explorer who commanded an exploring expedition for Spain to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest during the late 18th century....
in 1790.
The town now called Cordova was first settled by prospectors in 1884.
One of the first oil fields in Alaska was discovered in 1902 at
KatallaKatalla is a ghost town in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska, 76 km southeast of Cordova. The name of this town was sometimes spelled Catalla...
, 76 km (47 miles) southeast of Cordova. Cordova was named in 1906 by
Michael James HeneyMichael James Heney was a railroad contractor of international renown, best known for his work on the first two railroads built in Alaska, the White Pass and Yukon Route and the Copper River and Northwestern Railway. The son of Irish immigrants, Heney rose to the top of his profession before his...
, builder of the
Copper River and Northwestern RailwayThe Copper River and Northwestern Railway was a railroad built by the Kennecott Corporation between 1907 and 1911 to take copper ore from Kennicott, Alaska to Cordova, Alaska, a distance of 315 km . The railroad was built by thousands of workers, who laid tracks around glaciers, across...
, after the inlet. Cordova became the railroad terminus and port for copper ore from the mines at
KennicottKennecott, also known as Kennecott Mines or AHRS Site No. XMC-001, is an abandoned mining camp in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska that was the center of activity for several copper mines. The camp and mines are now a National Historic Landmark District administered by...
up the
Copper RiverThe Copper River or Ahtna River is a 300-mile river in south-central Alaska in the United States. It drains a large region of the Wrangell Mountains and Chugach Mountains into the Gulf of Alaska...
, after it was determined that Katalla was a poor harbor. The first trainload of ore was loaded onto the steamship
Northwestern, and taken to a smelter in
Tacoma, WashingtonTacoma is a mid-sized urban port city in and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park...
, in April 1911. The copper mines operated until 1938 and yielded over $200 million in copper, silver and gold. The Katalla oil field produced until 1933, when it was destroyed by fire.
Cordova was also once the home of a booming
razor clamRazor clam may refer to clams in the genus Ensis or Siliqua, including:*Ensis directus, Atlantic jackknife clam*Ensis arcuatus, razor shell*Siliqua alta, the northern or Arctic razor clam*Siliqua costata, Atlantic razor clam...
industry — indeed, between 1915 and 1964 it was known as the "Razor Clam Capital of the World." Historic commercial harvest in this area was as much as 3 million pounds. Returns began declining in the late 1950s, presumably due to overharvesting. The 1964
Good Friday EarthquakeThe 1964 Alaska earthquake, also known as the Great Alaska Earthquake, began at 5:36 P.M. AST on Friday, March 27, 1964. Across south-central Alaska, ground fissures, collapsing buildings, and tsunamis directly caused about 131 deaths...
effectively destroyed the industry — in some areas, the ground was thrust up by as much as six feet, exposing the already depleted clam beds. Today the once-thriving industry is all but forgotten even by area residents, though some work is being done on restoring the clam beds.
The March 1989
Exxon Valdez oil spillThe Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in the Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989. It is considered one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters ever to occur at sea. As significant as the Valdez spill was, it ranks well down on the list of the world's largest oil...
severely affected the area's
salmonSalmon is the common name for several species of fish of the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the family are called trout; the difference is often attributed to the migratory life of the salmon as compared to the residential behaviour of trout, a distinction that holds true for the Salmo...
and
herringHerring are relatively small oily fish of the genus Clupea found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Two species of Clupea are currently recognized, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring , each of which may be...
populations, leading to a collapse of much of the local economy of the community that relies on
fishingFishing is the activity of catching fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
, thereby forcing many residents to leave or go out of business. One former mayor of the city committed suicide after the spill, along with several other residents. In February 2008, many of Cordova's residents participated in a protest against
ExxonMobilThe Exxon Mobil Corporation, or ExxonMobil, is an American oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil....
outside the trial at the US Supreme Court.
The economy of Cordova now relies on
fishingFishing is the activity of catching fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
,
canningCanning is a method of preserving food in which the food is processed and sealed in an airtight container. The process was first developed as a French military discovery by Nicolas Appert...
(particularly of chinook and sockeye
salmonSalmon is the common name for several species of fish of the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the family are called trout; the difference is often attributed to the migratory life of the salmon as compared to the residential behaviour of trout, a distinction that holds true for the Salmo...
), and small amounts of
tourismTourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other...
. Cordova has a large fishing fleet that operates in
Prince William SoundPrince William Sound is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System...
as well as several fish processing plants.
Cordova is accessible by plane or boat. It is linked directly to the Pacific Ocean shipping lanes through the
Gulf of AlaskaThe Gulf of Alaska is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east, where Glacier Bay and the Inside Passage are found.The entire shoreline of the Gulf is...
. It receives barge service, and
Alaska Marine HighwayThe Alaska Marine Highway or the Alaska Marine Highway System is a ferry service operated by the government of the U.S. state of Alaska....
service all year long.
List of mayors
| # |
Name |
Term |
Notes |
| 1 |
George Hazelet |
c. 1909 |
First mayor of Cordova |
|
Will H. Chase |
1928 – 1932 |
|
|
Richard Davis |
1949 |
|
|
Barney Anderson |
1961 |
|
|
John Stotera LeFevre |
1961 – 1963 |
|
|
Melvin Soder |
1965 |
|
|
Arthur P. Knight |
1971 |
|
|
Jim Poor |
1975 |
|
|
Erling Johansen |
1987 – 1989 |
|
|
Bob Van Brocklin |
1989 – 1990 |
|
|
Kelly Weaverling |
1991 – 1993 |
First Green PartyThe Green Party of the United States is one of the political parties in the United States, and similar in mission to many of the worldwide Green Parties. The Greens, a voluntary association of state parties, have been active as a nationally recognized political party since 2001...
mayor in U.S. |
|
Margy Johnson |
1993 – 1999 |
First woman elected mayor of Cordova |
|
Ed Zeine |
1999 – 2000 |
|
|
Margy Johnson |
2001 – 2002 |
|
|
Nancy Bird |
2003 |
"... served for about 4 months as Acting Mayor in 2003." |
|
Timothy L. Joyce |
March 2004 – present |
|
External links