The river's name is Inupiat for "place where the east wind blows."[6] Historically, the river provided a good connection between native coastal settlements and those in the interior along the Yukon River.[6] The route, including what is called the Kaltag Portage, was the shortest connection between the Yukon and Norton Sound.[7]
Eskimos have lived near the Unalakleet for many centuries. House pits in the region date to 200 B.C. In the 1830s, after the Russian-American Company established trading posts at St. Michael and Unalakleet, Lieutenant Lavrenty Zagoskin of the Imperial Russian Navy filed the first non-native reports about the Unalakleet.[7]
In 1898, herders from Lapland settled along the river, where they established reindeer herds. Shortly thereafter, prospectors seeking gold on the nearby Seward Peninsula traveled over the Kaltag Portage and downriver to the coast. Subsequent changes included a telegraph line and associated cabins along the river and establishment of a mail route.[7]
^ abcJettmar, Karen (2008) [1993]. The Alaska River Guide: Canoeing, Kayaking, and Rafting in the Last Frontier (3rd ed.). Birmingham, Alabama: Menasha Ridge Press. pp. 80–82. ISBN978-0-89732-957-6.