Page 180 - Vacation Country Travel Guide

collapsed span firmly back in place on new concrete
piers, the restored crossing benefited residents and
visitors who could then further explore the beauty and
majesty of this scenic location.
The Forest Service maintains a series of trails for
hiking through the varied habitats, from trails leading
to the Sheridan Glacier, one of the few glaciers that you
can actually hike on, to McKinley Lake for fall berry
picking and salmon fishing, or to Crater Lake for a
mountaintop view of Prince William Sound to the west
and the Copper River Delta to the east.
Enjoy the sights and sounds of the Cordova Walking
Tour, prepared by the Cordova Historical Society,
which points out historic structures throughout the
town. Observe the life of the Cordova fishermen as you
tour the harbor area and watch the process involved in
delivering the bounty of the sea from the boat to your
table. Cordova also offers cross country and downhill
skiing, sea kayaking, canoeing, ice skating, hunting,
flight seeing, birding and mountain biking.
View one of only five complete killer whale skeletons
in the world at the Ilanka Cultural Center. In a twist of
fate, a whale named Eyak died on the shore of Hartney
Bay on July 11, 2000 just a few miles from Cordova.
Members of the Native Village of Eyak and the Prince
William Sound Science Center began a partnership to
See Video resurrect Eyak (or the skeleton at least) in the name of
science. Dozens of volunteers worked on the project
and it is now complete. Don’t miss seeing this amazing
representation of marine mammal life.
Accommodations include a wide choice of hotels,
motels and B&Bs. Restaurants offer savory local
cuisine like Copper River salmon, halibut and other
Eagles at Cordova Harbor fresh seafood. Nichol’s Frontdoor and Backdoor Stores
photo by:
VC TRAVEL GUIDE are Cordova’s downtown groceries-and-more source,
offering onsite baked goods and superb deli selections.
at mile 13 is a must do. The road used to terminate at crews labored year-round through the winter for two Located a short walk from the waterfront, the
the Childs Glacier Recreation Area, a popular hiking years under some of the most severe conditions in the impressive 33,000 square foot Cordova Center is a
and sightseeing spot where the impressive 350’ glacier world. Steel workers spent long hours suspended over
meets the Copper River. A washout at Bridge 339 has the icy waters of the Copper River for most of this time.
made the 49-mile road impassible from Mile 36 on, The work entailed raising Span Four of the Bridge out
but tour operators are available to shuttle visitors to of the river and replacing the damaged and missing
the Childs Glacier and Million Dollar Bridge area via structural steel members on both Span Three and Span
airboat and plane. It is not uncommon to see Child’s Four. The existing unstable Pier Three was demolished
Glacier actively “calve” house-sized chunks of ice into and replaced with a new pier similar in shape and color
the river with a thunderous roar. Wildlife such as black to Piers One and Two.
bear, moose, beaver, mountain goats, trumpeter swans In the summer of 2005, Alaska Governor Murkowski
and numerous other species of birds can be observed led the ribbon cutting ceremony marking the complete
along the road. The historic Million Dollar Bridge lies restoration of the bridge, which was added to the
in the same vicinity. National Register of Historic Places in 2000. With the
Completed in 1910 at a cost of 1.4 million dollars,
the remote location of the bridge, its impressive
1600-foot length and cantilevered design made it
an engineering marvel of its time. The bridge was
originally constructed as part of the 196-mile railroad
system built by J.P. Morgan and the Guggenheim
family to transport $200 million worth of copper ore
from the Kennicott mine to the port of Cordova, for
shipping to Tacoma, Washington. The mine closed in
1938 and work began in the 1950s to convert the old
railbed to a roadway.
During the 1964 Good Friday earthquake, the
northernmost span collapsed into the Copper River,
halting further development of the Copper River
Highway and creating one of Cordova’s most
photographed attractions. Flooding in 1995 raised the
possibility that the earthquake damaged bridge would
ultimately collapse into the river, depositing debris on
Miles Glacier and harming the Copper River salmon
run. State engineers determined that even with a $19
million price tag, it would be far less costly to repair
the bridge than to remove it or clean up after a more
serious collapse.
The mammoth undertaking of stabilizing and
repairing the bridge began in the fall of 2003. Work
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