Alaska Highway Mapbook 2022

Page 73

Delta junction

Commemorative milepost for the end of the Alaska Highway

D

elta Junction marks the true end of the Alaska Highway and has a population of approximately 850. This area was a traditional hunting territory of the Athabaskan Indians for thousands of years. The town is spread out around the Alaska and Richardson Highways and from here, going north or south, you will be traveling on the Richardson Highway (See map pg 102). There is a large commemorative milepost at the Visitor Center to mark Mile 1422 of the Alaska Highway. In 1903, during the Fairbanks Gold Rush, what was to become the Richardson Highway, was built from Valdez to Fairbanks via Delta Junction. This trail used a portion of the Valdez Eagle trail made famous by the Klondike Gold Rush. A road house was built at the junction of the Delta and the Tanana Rivers to supply the gold seekers and a telegraph station was built in 1904 to aid increased communication needs.

www.BellsAlaska.com

The Chisana Gold Rush of 1913 and Delta’s selection in 1920 as the home of the government’s buffalo importation program helped establish the town as a permanent settlement.

Interior Alaska

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