Cooper Landing

Cooper Landing, population about 285, extends nearly 10 miles along curves of the Sterling Highway and hugs the shorelines of two of the peninsula's prime attractions, Kenai River and Kenai Lake.

The business community has several restaurants and lodging places, bars, grocery store and shops selling jewelry, gifts and souvenirs. Gas, auto repair and towing are available. In the winter not all businesses are open.

A fire department, ambulance and state troopers serve the town. There is a community library located next to the community hall on Bean Creek Road, and two churches; St. John Newmann Catholic and Kenai Lake Baptist.

Fishing guides and an air taxi offer their services. There is a small landing strip at Quartz Creek.

Cooper Landing is named for Joseph Cooper, an early miner who worked his way to the area in the 1880s where he mined for gold. He is reported to have make his first discovery there in 1884.

The Russians had prospected up the Kenai River and into the mountains several years before, doing considerable digging on what is now know as the Russian River.

The earliest post office and school were called Riddiford. Class began in a log cabin in 1929. The Cooper Landing post office was established in 1936 and the Cooper Landing Community Club, the recognized local governing body, was founded in 1949.

A couple takes time on a winter day to fish at the head of the Kenai River in Cooper Landing. Clarion file photo

Not until 1938 was the community connected by road to Seward. Ten years later a road was completed to Kenai and in 1951 the road extended All the way to Anchorage.

Five buildings n Cooper Landing at mile 48.7 have been declared a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. They were made with locally available materials between 1905 and 1927 by members of two pioneer families, the Leans and the Bowls.

They are on the banks of the Kenai River, the area's primary transportation corridor until the lake 1940s. This was the core of this frontier mountain community where subsistence hunting and fishing, guiding, trapping, fur farming, trading and rural schooling was a way of life. The aura of old-time Alaska clings to the cluster of buildings today.

What to see and do

Fish Kenai lake for rainbow trout, Dolly Varden, lake trout and white fish. Fish Kenai River for rainbows and Dollies. Although salmon are present, they may not be fished in the lake.

Because the Kenai River is the most popular river in Alaska, numerous regulations are required to manage its salmon and trout populations Please review a current copy of the Alaska Sport Fishing Regulations and Summary before you fish this or any other of Alaska's fresh or marine waters.

Go boating on Kenai Lake or Kenai River. Take a float trip in the river. Fish along the way ,look for moose or sheep, stop for a picnic on the banks. Several float trip operators offer different options, including transportation from down river. Some have kayaks as well as rafts.

Camp Kushtaka Campfire Camp on Snug Harbor Road teaches cold water survival and other outdoor subjects.

If you have always wanted to photograph the national bird, a large number of bald eagles hang out close to the Kenai River beside the highway where you have a chance of getting a good shot.