Thursday, August 4, 2011

Cordova


Cordova Alaska is a fishing community on the southeast shore of Orca Inlet on the east side of Prince William Sound. It is a town of aboot 2000 or so humans. Cordova is off the road system so the only way to get there is by air, or sea.
From 1911 until 1938 trains loaded with ore from the Kennicott Copper Mine brought their cargo to tidewater here, and provided a rail link to Copper Center.

Our great senator liza murcowski’s father, our emeritus great senator and governor, frank murcowski tried to get the old railroad right of way rebuilt as a highway to Cordova in spite of the opposition by most of the residents. Fortunate for the town frank never got the required permits or environmental impact statements to build a road, and the project was shut down much to the chagrin of the republicans that think you should just be able to drive your bulldozer any old where you want to.

The Copper River survived the mining and supported a vibrant fishing industry up till the hexon Valdez crashed in 1989. 20 years later the sound is still recovering. The Herring has still not returned in the quantities prior to the spill, but the Salmon run this year was strong and Copper River Reds are the best tasting salmon from anywhere on the planet.

In the 1964 earthquake the old railroad bridge on the Copper River Highway fell off the last span and was impassable for many years. The Milepost says it was repaired in 2005 and you can now drive on the Million Dollar Bridge for another 2 miles.

You may ask why does any of this information aboot Cordova matter any way. Is there going to be a test on Cordova or something…Well

Ride Like a Hoodlum Brand

 On the 5th day of August 2011 Huckleberry and myself have booked round trip passage on the Fast Vessel Ferry Chenega. We are riding the entire 40 miles of Copper River Highway and if we can are riding over the Million Dollar Bridge.

Of course we will have all the accoutrements required for a journey of this magnitude. French Press, Kaladi Brother Coffee, heated riding gear, dark chocolate…
The gps tracker will be on. Follow along..




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