Kulagin

Kulagin belongs to the history of the lower Yaik, the river later called the Ural. The eighteenth-century Kulaginskaya fortress stood on its right bank, about 140 versts upstream from Guryev. It and the neighbouring Kalmykovskaya fortress were built in 1743 and settled by Yaik Cossacks, extending a chain of fortified communities along the river.

An order of 6 April 1774 shows how Kulagin functioned during the Pugachev rebellion. The rebel Yaik command acknowledged reports from Guryev and Kulagin and directed that women and children be sent to Kulagin because a sudden attack could make evacuation across the water impossible. It then ordered the Kulagin detachment toward Kalmykovskaya and discussed provisions for the assembled forces. Workers from the fishing enterprises near Guryev were also to be sent to Kulagin under supervision. The document presents a river fortress as a place of refuge, communication and military concentration, tied to fishing labour and to the vulnerable crossings between neighbouring posts.