Deadhorse is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

located within the CDP of

Prudhoe Bay Prudhoe Bay is a town located in North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population of the CDP was 1,310 people, down from 2,174 residents in the 2010 census, and up from just 5 residents in 2000; however ...

North Slope Borough The North Slope Borough is the northernmost borough in the US state of Alaska and, thus, the northernmost county or equivalent of the United States as a whole. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,031. The borough seat and largest cit ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, United States, along the North Slope near the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

. The town consists mainly of facilities for the workers and companies that operate at the nearby

Prudhoe Bay Oil Field Prudhoe Bay Oil Field is a large oil field on Alaska's North Slope. It is the largest oil field in North America, covering and originally contained approximately of oil.

. Deadhorse is accessible via the

Dalton Highway The James W. Dalton Highway, usually referred to as the Dalton Highway (and signed as Alaska Route 11), is a road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse (an unincorporated community within t ...

from Fairbanks, south, or Deadhorse Airport. Limited accommodation is also available for

tourists Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

. The permanent population is variously listed as being between 25 and 50 residents. Temporary residents (employed by various firms with local interests) can range as high as 3,000. Companies with facilities in Deadhorse service Prudhoe Bay, nearby

oil fields A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presen ...

, and the

Trans-Alaska Pipeline System The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 12 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one o ...

(TAPS), which brings oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez on the south-central Alaska coast. Facilities in Deadhorse are built entirely on man-made gravel pads and usually consist of pre-fabricated modules shipped to Deadhorse via barge or air cargo.

History

The

, Alaska, area was developed to house personnel, provide support for drilling operations, and transport oil to the

Alaskan pipeline The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska Petroleum, crude-oil Pipeline transport, pipeline, 12 Pumping station, pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, ...

. Prior to 1977, oil seeps (small pores or fissure networks through which liquid petroleum emerges at the surface of the land) on the Arctic coastal plain had caught the attention of the U.S. petroleum interests. The

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

drilled for oil between 1944 and 1953 with little success. In 1967, after several attempts at drilling for oil, oil company mergers, and competitive bidding for state lease sales, the

Prudhoe Bay oil field Prudhoe Bay Oil Field is a large oil field on Alaska's North Slope. It is the largest oil field in North America, covering and originally contained approximately of oil.

was discovered. Sources conflict on the origin of the area's name. The most cited theory appears to be that the area takes its name from a local business prominent in the late 1960s and 1970s, the "Dead Horse Haulers" trucking company. How the trucking company got its name remains in dispute. In February 2023, a "high altitude object" about the size of a small car was shot down near the area after a decision by President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

Demographics

Deadhorse first appeared on the 1970 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It was made a census-designated place (CDP) in 1980. It appeared last on the 1990 census. After 2000, it was merged into the Prudhoe Bay CDP.

Tourism and wildlife

Tourists traveling to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay typically take tour buses from Fairbanks via the James Dalton Highway, a two-day journey with an overnight stop in Coldfoot. During the summer months, visitors can arrange for tours to the Arctic Ocean via a guided tour only. There is no longer any public Arctic Ocean access from Deadhorse. All tours must be booked 24 hours in advance to allow time for background checks on all passengers going through the oilfield check point. Tourists can also experience the

midnight sun Midnight sun, also known as polar day, is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When midnight sun is see ...

due to Deadhorse's location above the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

. In winter, the opposite phenomenon,

polar night Polar night is a phenomenon that occurs in the polar regions of Earth, northernmost and southernmost regions of Earth when the Sun remains below the horizon for more than 24 hours. This only occurs inside the polar circles. The opposite phen ...

, occurs. The area often features large herds of

caribou The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...

and over 200 bird and

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

species, including geese, swans, gulls and eagles. Other indigenous wildlife include

Arctic fox The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small species of fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Tundra#Arctic tundra, Arctic tundra biome. I ...

es,

Arctic ground squirrel The Arctic ground squirrel (''Urocitellus parryii'') (Inuktitut: ''ᓯᒃᓯᒃ, siksik'') is a species of ground squirrel in the squirrel family Sciuridae that is native to the Arctic and Subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, mainly in N ...

grizzly bears The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horr ...

polar bears The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear and land carnivo ...

, musk oxen, and

Arctic hare The Arctic hare (''Lepus arcticus'') is a species of hare highly adapted to living in the Arctic tundra and other icy biomes. The Arctic hare survives with shortened ears and limbs, a small nose, fat that makes up close to 20% of its body, and a ...

s. Because alcoholic beverages are not sold in Deadhorse, a humorous slogan for the town is "All that far and still no bar." The town serves as a start/end or turn-around point of several motorcycle-riding challenges offered by the

Iron Butt Association The Iron Butt Association (IBA) is a US-based organization dedicated to safe long-distance motorcycle riding, which claims membership of over 75,000 people. The IBA is a loose-knit organization with only one way to earn membership: ride one of t ...

. One of these, the Ultimate Coast to Coast, gives riders 30 days to travel between Deadhorse and

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

(the southernmost city in the contiguous United States) in either direction.

Deadhorse Airport

Deadhorse Airport (IATA: SCC, ICAO: PASC, FAA LID: SCC) is a public airport located in Deadhorse on the North Slope of Alaska. Being near Prudhoe Bay it is sometimes called Prudhoe Airport.

Climate

Like all of the North Slope, Deadhorse features a cold and dry

tundra climate The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. It is classified as ET according to the Köppen climate classification. It is a climate which at least one month has an average temperature high enough ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''ET''), as even the hottest month, July, has a daily average temperature of only , although Deadhorse reaches on average once every four years. Deadhorse averages four days per year where temperatures reach or more. Since 1968, the only years that failed to reach that mark were 1972 and 1980. Precipitation is very light, averaging only , including only of snow – less snowfall than even the warmest places in the Alaska Panhandle like

Ketchikan Ketchikan ( ; ) is a city in and the borough seat of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough on Revillagigedo Island of Alaska. It is the state's southeasternmost major settlement. Downtown Ketchikan is a National Historic Landmark District. With a po ...

. The mean annual temperature is , with maximum temperatures reliably remaining below freezing from early/mid October to late April. As the area is located in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 2, temperatures below can be expected during the height of winter. *Longest day: 63 days, 23 hours, 40 minutes (12:09 a.m. on May 20 to 11:18 p.m. on July 22) *Shortest day: 45 min (11:42 a.m. to 12:27 p.m. on November 24) *Longest night: 54 days, 22 hours, 51 min (12:27 p.m. on November 24 to 11:18 a.m. on January 18) *Shortest night: 26 min (11:43 p.m. on May 19 to 12:09 a.m. on May 20) *Highest recorded temperature: on August 6, 2024 *Lowest recorded temperature: on January 27, 1989 *Highest wind speed recorded: on February 25, 1989 *Official lowest

wind chill Wind chill (popularly wind chill factor) is the sensation of cold produced by the wind for a given ambient air temperature on exposed skin as the air motion accelerates the rate of heat transfer from the body to the surrounding atmosphere. Its va ...

: on January 28, 1989 (air temperature of ) and wind speed of

Health care

Deadhorse (including

) is classified as an isolated town/Sub-Regional Center. It is found in EMS Region 6A in the North Slope Region. Emergency Services have limited highway, coastal, and airport access. Emergency service is provided by paid EMS service and Fairweather Deadhorse Medical Clinic. Auxiliary health care is provided by oil company medical staff and the Greater Prudhoe Bay Fire Dept. Individuals requiring hospital care are usually transported to the nearest hospital/medical center, Samuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital, in

Utqiagvik, Alaska Utqiagvik ( ; , ), formerly known as Barrow ( ), is the borough seat and largest city of the North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located north of the Arctic Circle, it is one of the northernmost cities and towns in the world and th ...

. Because no roads connect Deadhorse to Utqiagvik, individuals are transported by plane or helicopter (an approximately 45 minute flight).

In popular culture

Comic books

*A highly fictionalized version of Deadhorse, AK appears in the ''Deadhorse'' comic book series, by Eric Grissom, Phil Sloan, Marissa Louise, and David Halvorson.

Television

*Deadhorse is the subject of the second episode of ''

America's Toughest Jobs ''America's Toughest Jobs'' is a reality television show that lasted one season and aired on NBC. It pitted contestants against each other as they attempted a series of difficult and dangerous jobs. The prize was the sum of the salaries that wou ...

'' *Deadhorse is featured on the third through sixth seasons of ''

Ice Road Truckers ''Ice Road Truckers'' (commercially abbreviated ''IRT'') is a reality television series that aired on History Channel from 2007 to 2017. It featured the activities of drivers who operated trucks on ice roads crossing frozen lakes and rivers, i ...

'', a

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series airing on the

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

; it dramatizes trucking on the

and often features truckers transporting equipment to the oil companies located in or around the Prudhoe Bay area. *It is briefly featured in the first, second, and third seasons of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's '' Life Below Zero''. *It is featured in the first episode of the

's ''

World's Most Dangerous Roads ''World's Most Dangerous Roads'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British TV series in which two celebrities are filmed as they journey by Four-wheel drive, 4×4 vehicle along roads considered among the world's most dangerous. The show was ...

'' *It is featured in the ''

X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to May 19, 2002, on Fox, spanning nine seasons, with 202 episodes. A tenth season of six e ...

'', season 2, episode 17: " End Game".

Music

* The album Deadhorse (Deluxe Edition) by the group Dirt Poor Robins occurs in Deadhorse.

Image gallery

Deadhorse Sign.JPG, Sign at General Store, Deadhorse, Alaska (January 2008) General store, Deadhorse, Alaska (2003).jpg, Deadhorse General Store (2003) Dalton Highway facing south from Deadhorse.jpg, The Dalton Highway at Deadhorse (July 2010)

References

External links

Deadhorse Alaska website