Anchorage Daily News

DELTANA

POPULATION: 1,896 (2006)

LOCATION: Southeast of Delta Junction on the Alaska Highway, near the convergence of the Richardson and Alaska highways, about 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks.

DESCRIPTION: A relatively large area, with more than 665 homes whose residents are primarily non-Native; about 1 in every 7 homes is used only seasonally. The Fort Greely missile project, the Delta/Greely School District and Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. are the major employers, with state and federal highway maintenance and a few small businesses providing other jobs. Nearly 40,000 acres are farmed in the Delta area, producing barley, other grains and forage, potatoes, dairy products, cattle and hogs.

HISTORY: In 1903 an overland trail was cut from Valdez to Fairbanks and a roadhouse established a short time later at the junction of the Delta and Tanana rivers. In 1904 the U.S. Army Signal Corps built the McCarty Telegraph Station. Rika's Roadhouse was built in 1910. Ongoing mining just north of Delta Junction in the Tenderfoot area and the Chisana Gold Strike of 1913 brought prospectors and other travelers. It became known as Buffalo Center in 1927 for the American bison transplanted in the 1920s. In 1942, construction of the Alaska Highway began, and a military base (later Fort Greely) was completed five miles to the south. In 1946, a dairy farm was established; beef cattle were brought in during 1953.

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