Big Delta is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP) in

Southeast Fairbanks Census Area Southeast Fairbanks Census Area is a census area located in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,808, down from 7,029 in 2010. It is part of the unorganized borough and therefore has no borough seat. Its lar ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The population was 591 at the 2010 census, down from 749 in 2000. Big Delta is at the confluence of the

Delta River The Delta River is an tributary of the Tanana River in the U.S. state of Alaska. Its name in the Ahtna language is ''Saas Na’ ''. Fed by the Tangle Lakes of the Alaska Range, the river flows north to meet the larger river near Big Delta ...

and the

Tanana River The Tanana River (Lower Tanana: Tth'eetoo', Upper Tanana: ''Tth’iitu’ Niign'') is a tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to linguist and anthropologist William Bright, the name is from the Koyukon (Athabaskan) ...

and gets its name from the huge

river delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition (geology), deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, res ...

formed by the confluence.

History

From at least 10,000 years ago to the present,

Athabascan Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific Co ...

Indians have inhabited portions of the interior of

. They survived by hunting the abundant game and fishing in the rivers of the interior of Alaska. Beginning in 1899, the United States Army built a pack trail from Valdez, on the south coast of Alaska, to

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

, northeast of Big Delta, a distance of about . The trail crossed the Tanana River near the confluence of the Delta and Tanana Rivers. Gold was discovered in 1902 in

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 ...

, about north of the crossing of the Tanana River. Roadhouses were built along the pack trail that connected the south coast of Alaska with Fairbanks. One such roadhouse was Bates Landing, which was built at the confluence of the Delta and Tanana Rivers, about north of the current Delta Junction, in the area known now as Big Delta. The U. S. government collected a toll on the south side of the Tanana River from all passengers crossing north. In 1904 work began on the

Richardson Highway The Richardson Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska, running 368 miles (562 km) and connecting Valdez to Fairbanks. It is marked as Alaska Route 4 from Valdez to Delta Junction and as Alaska Route 2 from there to Fairbanks. It ...

, which mostly followed the route of the pack trail. In 1906,

John Hajdukovich John Hajdukovich, born as Jovan Hajduković, (1879-1965) was a Montenegrin American pioneer in Alaska, who ran several trading posts around Big Delta and was a member of the Alaska Game Commission. He immigrated to Alaska in 1903 and worked as ...

bought the roadhouse and enlarged it. In addition to running the lodge there, he took hunting parties into the nearby Granite Mountains and traded with the Athabaskans in the surrounding area. An 18-year-old Swedish girl named Rika Wallen came to the roadhouse to work for John. After several years, John deeded the roadhouse to Rika in lieu of back wages he owed her. Rika also homesteaded an adjoining piece of land. Rika's Roadhouse and the adjacent property are now the Big Delta State Historical Park. In 1928 a herd of

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 U. S. state of Montana to Big Delta, because they were thought to be threatened with extinction in the continental United States. The herd still roams in the

Delta Junction 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. T ...

area, about south of Big Delta. The construction of the

Alaska Highway