History of Delta Junction

The herd is now kept at several hundred animals by the annual issuance of hunting permits. In the early 1980s, the 90,000-acre (360 km2) Delta Junction Bison Range, south of the Alaska Highway and between Ft. Greely and the Little Gerstle River was established; the range is now managed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to provide fall habitat for bison to reduce farm depredations and to provide habitat for other wildlife.

During World War II the United States aided the Soviet Union against Germany by sending airplanes and supplies authorized by the Lend-lease Act to the Soviet Union through Alaska into the Russian Far East. The Alaska Highway was built to connect an existing road in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada, with the Richardson Highway in Alaska, a distance of 2,290 km (1,420 mi).

The Alaska Highway met the Richardson Highway at a point 12 km (7.5 mi) south along the Delta River from Big Delta. The place where the highways met became known as Delta Junction. Allen Army Airfield was constructed 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Delta Junction for use in sending supplies to Russia. The Glenn Highway was built from Anchorage to what is now Glennallen, where it met the Richardson Highway. This connection created a motor route between Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska.

After World War II a U.S. army base, Fort Greely, was built next to the air field. The base and a huge tract of land around it was used for training soldiers for cold weather combat during the Cold War with the former Soviet Union.