Big Delta State Historical Park
Big Delta State Historic Park is a 10-acre historical park on the Tanana River 8 miles north of Delta Junction. The park preserves Rika's Roadhouse and Landing, an important crossroads for travelers, miners and soldiers on the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail from 1909 to 1947.
John Hajdukovich built Rika's Roadhouse in 1910. In 1923, he sold it to Rika Wallen, a Swedish immigrant who had managed the roadhouse since 1917, for "$10.00 and other considerations," presumably in lieu of wages. The roadhouse was immediately renamed Rika's. Wallen ran the roadhouse into the late 1940s and lived there until her death in 1969. The roadhouse was restored, right down to the original kerosene crate floor, in the late 1970's and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and serves as the centerpiece of the park.