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PAGES NINE TO TWELVE MAGAZ NE - SECT.. PAGES NINE TO TWELVE
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H Cordo m Daily Times if
(MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS) -
* VOL. 5. NO. 182 CORDOVA, ALASKA, SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1920 PRICE TEN CENTS
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:|:j GATEWAY
•x to
:$ Bering River Coal
£: and Oil Fields
^ % OUTFITTING
X; for Interior
:jj: Copper, Gold
:£ Quartz and
•x Placer Mines
TERMINAL
POINT
of
Copper River and
Northwestern Ry.
FISHING
CENTER
of Salmon and
Clam Industries
This Part Alaska
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tv
CORDOVA first became a town in the year 190S, the first lots
in the townsite being sold in May of that year. For several
years prior to that time it had been known that there were
:j:j large deposits of coal and oil in what was known as the
£: Bering River Country, but there was some question as to an available
tide-water harbor from which to ship the coal and oil.
% One afternoon early in the year 1905, in an office at Valdez, a
:$ number of business men were discussing the general business condi
*:•: tions, and among other things the matter of the Bering River coal
jij: came up for discussion. A certain old-timer who was present, and
who had considerable knowledge of the physical conditions of the
country adjacent to the Bering River coal and oil fields, remarked
r' -x that the only available harbor for the shipment of the coal was on
Orca Inlet, distant about 75 miles from the coal bodies. It was then
j:j and there decided by these few business men to send an engineer to
*:•: Cordova Hotels
♦x Orca to make investigations and to select a townsite somewhere on
:$ Orca Inlet. Accordingly the present site of the town of Cordova was
•:*: selected. This was long before there was any thought of building a
* railroad from this port to the great mineral country in the Interior.
X; One proof of the wisdom of the men who selected the townsite of Cor
dova as the proper location for an important seaport is the fact that
*:•; later Cordova was selected as the tide-water terminus of the Copper
River & Northwestern railroad, which is a broad-gauge and finely
equipped road, penetrating Interior Alaska for a distance of 196 miles;
was built at a cost of over $20,000,000, and taps a very rich mineralized
| belt.
Towns and cities do not exist and grow without a reason therefor.
Everyone who reads is by this time familiar with the fact that there
:•> are immensely rich coal, oil and mineral deposits in Alaska. That fact
has been and is the subject matter of nation-wide comment. It only
needs to be added that these great storehouses of national wealth lie
:$ at Cordova’s back door.
:j:j In the report of the Alaska Railroad Commission, which was ap
*x pointed by President Taft in 1913 to obtain information with respect
to the coal fields of Alaska and their proximity to ra.ilroad routes, to
examine railroad routes from seaboard to the various coal fields, and
to obtain other information along those lines and to report such in
;£ formation to Congress, Ave read on page 139 of said report as follows:
X- “After a careful study of all available harbors, the
•x Commission is of the opinion that the one at Cordova
^ is, without question, the best. It has no disadvan
£: tages not possessed by all, and one great advantage
♦x possessed by no other, namely, an ample area of good <
▼ anchorage. * * * Cordova is the logical outlet for
the Bering River coal.”
Cordova is located on the east side of the southern end of Orca
Inlet, at the head of deep-water navigation. The topographical fea
tures of the townsite are such as to make it ideal for a beautiful city,
with perfect natural drainage. While the business portion is practi
cally level, the residence portion is varied with slopes, benches and
plateaux, with mountain, lake and inlet scenery unsurpassed.
The townsite was laid out with a view of accommodating a large
population. The streets are wide and there is a 14-foot alley running
through the center of every block. Cordova is substantially built and
has adequate water system, electric lights, electric power, telephones,
sewers, well-graded and broad streets, creditable business blocks, at
tractive residences, excellent school facilities, imposing church edi
fices. and an efficient volunteer fire department. Besides the local
telephone system there is a long-distance service from Cordova to
Katalla, and along the railroad to all stations as far as Kennecott,
and Cordova has cable connections with the coast towns and Seattle
and telegraph connections with the towns in the Interior. One of the
largest wireless stations in the world is located fourteen miles from
Cordova.
Every inducement is made by the townsite company to home
builders. During the past season there have been constructed dwell
ings and apartment houses that will accommodate thirty families, and
all now are occupied.
A reinforced concrete theater building and business block costing
8125,000 has just been completed.
Public School and Recreation Hall
The real estate valuation of Cordova is approximately $1,500,000,
and the average tax rate for the past ten years was 7 mills. The town
offers exceptional hotel accommodations, there being four large, mod
ern hotels, which are steam-heated, electric-lighted, with private baths;
one afternoon newspaper, a member of the Associated Press, which
publishes the news of the world, received by cable and wireless; five
restaurants, two banks, three hardware stores, three clothing stores,
three grocery stores, two drug stores, three dentists, four physicians,
a city hall, one hospital, public reading room, four book and stationery
stores, two photographers, one bath house, one meat market, two
jewelry shops, cold storage plant for meat, one theater, four churches,
four fraternal organizations, three machine shops and machinery supply
houses, five barber shops, one steam and several hand laundries, two
real estate agencies, two cobblers, one undertaker, two plumbing shops,
two sheet metal shops, two transfer companies, with autos and auto
trucks, two insurance agencies, two lumber companies, one electric
light company, one water works plant, one telephone company, one
wood-working shop, two tin and metal shops, three sawmills, five law
yers, numerous social clubs, two steamship agencies, and a number of
small stores.
There are three large salmon canneries and one clam cannery
located within the city limits, besides five large salmon canneries and
one clam cannery within a few miles of Cordova. These, with the
railroad shops and other industries, furnish a large payroll.
A Business Street in Cordova
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Mineral Resources |
History of Discoveries &:
AS has been the experience in nearly every mining country in the jij:
world, placer gold was first discovered. The first find was made :j:|
in May, 1899, on the extreme headwaters of the Copper River. &:
A party of argonauts, attracted by the wonderful discoveries of
' gold in the Klondike in 1897, determined, in the spring of 1S98, to enter
the Copper River section by way of the Valdez Glacier. The greater j:j:
part of that year was spent in transporting their supplies into the val- :$
ley of that river over the rugged field of ice and snow known as the j:|:
Valdez Glacier. This glacier is thirty miles long and rises to an ele- in
vention of five thousand feet in eighteen miles. The mode of trans
portation was by hand sleds pulled for the most part by the hardy
pioneer himself, for horses were out of the question and it was soon x
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Cordova Churches
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found that dog teams did not constitute an economic means of trans- i-i:
portation except for light, quick travel.
Hence it was not until 1899 that a discovery was made. In that
year placer gold was found on the Chisana River. 250 miles inland, and •$
also on Quartz Creek, 75 miles in from the sea. The same year the
Nicholi copper claims were discovered and located, lying 200 miles
east of the above-mentioned placer ground. These discoveries induced
the prospectors remaining in the country to continue their efforts, and
in 1900 the now world-renowned Bonanza and Jumbo claims of the
Kennecott Copper Company were seen and located. Gold was found
also on Slate Creek and on the Bremner River the same year, each a
tributary of the Copper. These discoveries, lying from 150 to 200 miles *:j:
apart, indicated a large area of mineralized territory. :j:j
The wmrk of prospecting went on, and in 1901 both gold and copper
discoveries were made on the Nazina and Kotsina Rivers, tributaries
of the Chitina, which is itself a tributary of the Copper River. Two
years passed before any more gold discoveries were made. Then in
1903 pay was found on Valdez creek, 350 miles northwest from the last
named camp. Numerous other discoveries of copper and other valu
able mineral deposits, such as silver, lead, zinc, cinnabar and iron, were i-i;
made up to 1908, when all prospecting was practically stopped because •:*:
of the withdrawal of all Alaska coal and oil lands from entry. Coal
and oil being essential in the development of mines and in the reduc
tion of ore, it was felt to be useless to carry on any further explora
tion. §:
•V
Placer Output g:
•V
For twenty years most of these placer camps have been producing |:j:
more or less gold, the output ranging from $50,000 the first year to
$200,000 or $300,000 in recent years. The gravel is not as rich as was
found in the Klondike, Fairbanks or Nome fields, but it is a fairly con* Q