Delta Junction ( uk, Делта-Джанкшен, Delta Dzhankshen) is a city in the
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. As of the
2010 census, the population was 958, up from 840 in 2000. The 2018 estimate was down to 931. The city is located a short distance south of the confluence of the
Delta River with the
Tanana River, which is at
Big Delta
Big Delta is a census-designated place (CDP) in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 591 at the 2010 census, down from 749 in 2000. Big Delta is at the confluence of the Delta River and the Tanana River and g ...
. It is about south of
Fairbanks
Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...
. Native inhabitants are
Tanana Athabaskans.
History
For at least 10,000 years,
Athabascan indigenous peoples have inhabited portions of the interior of
Alaska. Early inhabitants survived by hunting and fishing.
The early history of non-native settlement in the area occurred at the river crossing at Big Delta and is found at the entry,
Big Delta, Alaska. In 1904, the town first served as a telegraph station. In 1928, a herd of 23
bison
Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised.
Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...
were brought from the
National Bison Range in
Montana to an area south of Big Delta to provide an additional game species for hunters. Buffalo Center, a small community near the center of present-day Delta Junction, was named because of their presence, especially during the winter months. The huge animals were troublesome, and sometimes made landings dangerous at nearby
Allen Army Airfield
Allen Army Airfield is a public and military use airport serving Fort Greely and located three miles (5 km) south of the central business district of Delta Junction, a city in the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska ...
.
During World War II, the United States aided the Soviet Union against Germany by sending airplanes and supplies authorized by the
Lend-lease
Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
Act to the Soviet Union through Alaska into the Russian Far East. The