Catherine Cassidy moved to Alaska from the east coast in 1987. For many years she worked at a fishing dock on the site of the original Kasilof salmon cannery on the Kasilof River. Her experience of unloading fishing boats in that place, working around the same immutable forces of tide, weather and wild salmon runs as existed a hundred years earlier, piqued her interest in the Kenai Peninsula’s history. This connection to the past was strengthened when she and her husband purchased and began renovating Tom Odale’s old hunting lodge on Tustumena Lake where Andrew Berg was a frequent visitor.


Gary Titus is a ranger and historian for the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Driven by curiosity about the big game hunting era of the Kenai Peninsula, over the last twenty years he accumulated most of the sources used in this book. He also spent countless hours transcribing Andrew Berg’s journal. Gary's interest goes well beyond locating paper documents. He has retraced the steps of the old-timers and searched out the remains of many of their hunting and trapping cabins. Gary enjoys restoring and building cabins as well as finding them. In his job he directs the restoration of historic cabins within the Wildlife Refuge, including Andrew Berg’s cabins. In addition, he has built his dream cabin in a remote location on the Alaska Peninsula (see it at www.windsongwildernessretreat.com) Gary recently joined the exclusive club of those who have had body parts chewed on by a brown bear. He has since recovered enough to continue hiking, happily, in bear country.