CORDOVA, ALASKA

Nestled peacefully at the head of Orca Inlet in Prince William Sound.

"Cordova isn't just off the beaten track it's not on the track at all. There's no road to the rest of the world, and the town is an afterthought on the ferry system. Boosters call their town 'Alaska's Hidden Treasure.' For once, they're right," wrote Arthur Frommer from his travels to Alaska. He continued "Cordova has the qualities small towns are supposed to have had but lost long ago in America.

Cordova is a fishing port where you can watch commercial fishermen bring in their catch or try your hand at Alaska-style sport fishing. Tour the salmon canneries, visit the famed "Million Dollar Bridge", view Child's Galcier calving into the flowing Copper RIver below or ride the chair lift to the top of Eyak Mountain. From Cordova, the Copper River Highway provides the best bird watching and glacier viewing.

This area historically was home to a diverse group of Alaskan Natives, including the Alutiiq, the migrating Athabascan and Tlingit natives. Don Salvador Fidalgo originally named Orca Inlet "Puerto Cordova" in 1790. One of the first producing oil fields in Alaska was discovered at Katalla, 47 miles southeast of Cordova, in 1902. Michael Heney, builder of the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad, named the town of Cordova in 1906 and the City was formed in 1909. Cordova became the railroad terminus and ocean shipping port for copper ore from the Kennicott Copper Mine.