Delta Junction has had many identities over the years: gold rush town, Bison City, military outpost and farming community, to name a few. Most now know it as the official end of the Alaska Highway; it’s here that the famed highway joins the Richardson Highway to complete the route to Fairbanks. This intersection, marked by an oversized white milepost for Mile 1422 of the Alaska Highway, is known as the Triangle. The Delta Junction Visitor Center sits at the intersection and welcomes visitors with a friendly cup of coffee and a certificate proclaiming they have completed North America’s ultimate road trip.
About Delta Junction
Today a community of 1,058 residents, Delta Junction began as a telegraph station in 1904 and came into its own during the Chisana Gold Strike of 1913 and when it was chosen in the 1920s for the government’s buffalo importation program. Delta Junction is home to the 90,000-acre Delta Bison Sanctuary, which was created to contain a free-roaming herd of more than 500 animals. The area features spectacular views of the Alaska Range and the Delta River. On clear days the panoramas of Mount Hayes, Mount Moffit and other peaks are stunning.
Things to do
Delta is an agricultural community, and visitors can taste the local produce at Highway's End Farmer's Market across from the visitor’s center at the Triangle or during the Deltana Fair. Held in August, the fair includes livestock, garden and craft exhibits along with the usual fair staples of tractor pulls, food vendors and carnival rides. For a historical view of farming, the Alaska Homestead & Historical Museum, east of Delta Junction on the Alaska Highway, is the site of an early homestead farm and a large collection of early farming equipment.
The town is also home to several historic roadhouses. John Hajdukovich built Rika's Roadhouse in 1910. In 1923, he sold it to Rika Wallen, a Swedish immigrant who managed the roadhouse from 1917until the late 1940s, and lived there until her death in 1969. The roadhouse is now part of Big Delta State Historical Park, which includes a number of other historic outbuildings and facilities. Sullivan Roadhouse, relocated across from the visitor center, was originally built in 1905. It is one of the last remaining original roadhouses from the Valdez to Fairbanks Trail and is an excellent free museum of Interior pioneer artifacts. Other state parks in the area offer camping, fishing and hiking.
The wildlife viewing of bison and migrating sandhill cranes can be excellent in the Delta Junction area. The best source of information of where and when the species can be viewed is the Delta Junction Chamber of Commerce (877-895-5068).
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Alaska Homestead and Historical Museum
For a historical view of farming, the Alaska Homestead and Historical Museum, east of Delta Junction on the Alaska Highway, is the site of an early homestead farm and a large collection of early farming equipment.
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Delta Bison Sanctuary
In effort to reduce the amount of agricultural damage by Alaska bison, the 90,000-acre Delta Bison Sanctuary was established south of the Alaska Highway. With the aid of binoculars, visitors catch a glimpse of the herd from an overlook at Mile 242 of the Richardson Highway.
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Deltana Fair
Held in August, the Deltana Fair is Delta Junction's biggest event. The three-day event includes livestock, garden and craft exhibits along with the usual fair fare of tractor pulls, food vendors and carnival rides.
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Flightseeing Tours
With spectacular alpine scenery so close, flightseeing tours are popular in Delta Junction. Prime attraction from the air is Mount Hayes, a stunning sight at 13,832 feet and only 43 miles southwest of Delta Junction. Other mountains often viewed on flights are Mount Moffit (13,030 feet), Mount Shand (12,600 feet), Mount Deborah (12,339 feet) and Hess Mountain (11,920 feet).
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Frontier Days
Frontier Days is a three-day festival on Memorial Day weekend that celebrates the rich farming history of Delta Junction with antique tractor displays, hay wagon rides, petting zoo, lumberjack competition and the popular "Kiss A Pig" event.
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Highways End Farmers Market
Located at the Triangle, the heart of Delta Junction, is the the Highway's End Farmers Market where locals display and sell fresh vegetables, jams, jellies, baked goods, buffalo, caribou and elk meats, and many other home-grown items.
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Sullivan Roadhouse Museum
Sullivan Roadhouse was built in 1905 and served travelers along the Fairbanks-Valdez Trail until 1927. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and in 1997 was moved, log by log, from Fort Greely to its present location in the Triangle adjacent to the Delta Junction Visitors Center. Now a museum, the roadhouse displays historic photographs and excavated artifacts in several exhibits dedicated to travel in Alaska in the early 1900s during the state’s "roadhouse era."
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Trans-Alaska Pipeline
For many visitors arriving on the Alaska Highway, Delta Junction is the first place to see the famous Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The best viewing point is Mile 275.4 of the Richardson Highway where the pipeline crosses the Tanana River.