In the early 1900's, Copper was discovered around the area but they needed to get back and forth from Cordova to the old Kenncott Copper Mines. So the construction of the Copper River and Northwest Railway began. But when they came to the Copper River, they needed a strong and powerful bridge to get the rest of the way. So that's when they built the Million Dollar Bridge. And in 1911 the Railway was complete. The Kenncott Mines operated for 27 years, until in 1938 the Kenncott Copper Mines were shut down.

Then in 1945 the start of the Copper River Highway began its construction, converting the Railway into a Road. Where a lot of people thought it would connect Cordova to the rest of Alaska, they even paved the Million Dollar Bridge and began to tear up the rails in 1961. But in 1964 the Good Friday earthquake centered 90 miles west of the railway damages the grade, the bridge, and the causeways and bridges over the Delta. The earthquake, was 9.2 on the Richter scale. And was recorded as the strongest earthquake in North America. But in the 1970's, the state installed ramps to facilitate crossing the collapsed section of the Million Dollar Bridge.

Commercial fishing still thrived in Cordova until the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spills happened. They spilled nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, the nations worst oil spill.

Today, fishermen continue to rebuild the commercial fishing industry and the debate continues over whether Cordovans want to be on the road system or not.