 The name "Klawock" is derived from the Tlingit name , a subgroup of the Tlingit nation.In 1853 a Russian navigator referred to the village as "Klyakkhan", and in 1855 as "Thlewakh".In 1868, European Americans opened a trading post and a salmon saltery; some years later, in 1878, a San Francisco firm opened the first cannery in Alaska.