Gold Rush Crossroads

The community of Big Delta began during the Gold Rush era as a trading post and roadhouse serving prospectors and travelers. Known for many years as McCarty, it linked travel and trade at the intersection of waterways, trails, and telegraph lines. In 1903, prospectors and traders blazed a trail through here to the new town of Fairbanks following gold discoveries in the interior, and travelers crossed the Tanana River at this point or went downriver by boat. In 1904, as prospectors searched the upper Tanana River for gold, E.T. Barnette and Ben Bennett opened a trading post here, the farthest point upriver stern-wheelers could reach. Dan McCarty bought the post in 1905 as small gold stampedes to nearby creeks brought more people to the area. As travel between Fairbanks and Valdez increased, McCarty’s post became an overnight stop. In 1907, the U.S. Army began improving the trail, and two years later installed a ferry for safer crossing of the Tanana River. The road, later named the Richardson Highway, remained the primary overland route to the interior until 1923, when the Alaska Railroad was completed. The ferry continued in use until the 1940s, when a bridge was built. By 1906, fourteen people had settled around the trading post, and that same year the Army moved its telegraph line from the north to the south side of the river and later built a station at McCarty. John Hajdukovich bought the trading post in 1909 and added the two story log roadhouse known as Rika’s that stands at the site today. In 1913, hundreds of stampeders from Fairbanks passed through McCarty during the stampede to the Chisana gold fields on the upper Tanana River. McCarty continued as a small center for trade, transportation, and communication until World War II.

Big Delta, Alaska · United States