The first recorded exploration of the Tanana Valley and the Tanana River did not take place until 1885, but historians believe Russian traders from Nulato and Hudson's Bay Company traders ventured into the lower reaches of the Tanana and possibly the Chena River in the middle of the 19th century.McKennan, Robert A. "Athapaskan groups of central Alaska at the time of white contact", Ethnohistory Quarterly. Vol. 16, No. 4 (Fall 1969). p. 335 In 1885, Henry Tureman Allen of the U.S. Army led the first recorded expedition down the length of the Tanana River, charting the Chena River's mouth along the way.Crooked Past, p. vii
