Kasilof

Kasilof (pronounced Ka-SEE-lof) is spread over a wide area. There is a post office, general store and a church.

It is hard to separate Kasilof, Cohoe and Clam Gulch as far as early history goes. A Russian merchant company established an outpost near Humpy Point close to the mouth o the Kasilof River in 1786 named Fort St. George (Georgievsk or Georgiefskaia). There is evidence of an even earlier Russian occupation.

A large Native village was in the vicinity until about the turn of the century. Fishing was established early as a commercial enterprise and canneries were built on the Kasilof River in 1882 and 1888. Fishermen used traps (no longer legal) and gill nets. Canneries employed whites, Natives and Chinese.

Fox farming was a thriving business in the 1920s and for several years after, until prices dropped and fashion began to turn toward short-haired furs such as mink. Some tried mink farming but gave it up.

The post office was established in 1921, making the name Kasilof official. Before that and until people got used to it, the spelling was Kussiloff. It included the area now known as Cohoe.