Prospect Creek is a very small settlement approximately north of present-day
Fairbanks and southeast of present-day
Bettles, Alaska. Years ago it was home to numerous mining expeditions and the camp for the building of 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). Today, it is the location of Pump Station 5 (Jim River Station) of the TAPS. Prospect Creek is also home to the United States record for lowest temperature. On January 23, 1971, the record low temperature of (rounded to ) was recorded. Wildlife can be found there even with its extreme changes in temperature; local fauna include anything from black and brown
bear
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...
s to
bald eagle
The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...
s. The elevation of Prospect Creek is above sea level. Nearby Moore Creek is widely known for its gold and quartz mining and sits alongside Prospect Creek in Alaska’s Innoko Mining District (Moorecreek Mining Line, MML). The Innoko Mining District is famous for its findings of large quartz.
History
A camp was set up near Prospect Creek in 1974 to help house some of the 27,000 people working on the construction of the TAPS and serve Pump Station 5. The camp contained little more than housing and washrooms. After the TAPS was completed in 1977 the camp was broken down and abandoned. There was little left afterward other than
Prospect Creek Airport and a large gravel pad.
In 1974 during the construction of the TAPS there was a recorded wolf attack, however the only resulting injury was some minor bruising with no apparent breaks in the skin. The wolf was killed and tested negative for rabies.
The camp was again used in 1992 as the first of the camp sites set up for the construction workers, engineers and their families while they helped with the replacement of the bridges along the nearby
Dalton Highway.
It is also utilized by campers and other short-term residents.
Geography
Prospect Creek is situated north of the center of Alaska with coordinates: , just 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 ...
. It is located right off the James Dalton Highway on the 135th mile (217th kilometre).
Coldfoot is the nearest city and is located about northeast of Prospect Creek. The camp was situated near the start of the winter road to Bettles which begins just south of TAPS Pump Station 5 on the Dalton Highway. None-the-less, Prospect
According to the
Bureau of Land Management: “Prospect Creek joins the Jim River within of the road crossing" and the Jim River flows south into the South Fork of the Koyukuk River.
Under the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
system, Prospect Creek has a
subarctic climate
The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...
. Prospect has recorded some of the coldest winters in U.S. history. There are currently no people living in this area. The camp has been abandoned since the early 1990s. Prospect Creek has a small airstrip,
Prospect Creek Airport . Prospect Creek is a 220-mile drive North from Fairbanks via the
Steese and
Elliot Highways. Driving time is approximately 4–5 hrs on average in good weather and when road conditions are good. However, the drive can be very treacherous in the winter. There are commercial group tours into this area in the summer. Nearby and to the northwest, flows the
Koyukuk, a major Alaskan river draining west into the
Yukon
Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...
.
Prospect Creek is located near two National Wildlife Reserves;
Kanuti and
Yukon Flats, and to the Southeast of the
Gates of the Arctic National Park. The Prospect Creek area in itself is somewhat flat, but its surroundings are undulating and green, which is very typical of a
boreal forest
Taiga or tayga ( ; , ), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by pinophyta, coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. I ...
. Due to a very peculiar setting mixing extreme cold and an irregular massif there are occurrences of
tungsten minerals, and also "
bismuth is reported to have been found in a quartz vein on Prospect Creek." Despite this wealth of natural resources, no company has yet taken advantage of them due to the remote location.
Climate
Under the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
system, Prospect Creek has a
subarctic climate
The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...
. Prospect Creek has received some of the coldest winters in U.S. history. Prospect Creek was declared the coldest place in the United States at on January 23, 1971, with an average temperature of 20.4 °F (−6.4 °C). The North American record of was recorded in Greenland on December 22, 1991.
Highest Temperature: on August 1, 1977
Warmest Minimum: on July 14, 1975
Coldest Maximum: on January 23, 1971
Lowest Temperature: on January 23, 1971
Highest Daily Precipitation: on July 24, 1977
Wettest Month: in June 1974
Wettest Year: in 1976
Driest Year: in 1979
Highest Daily Snowfall: on November 10, 1978
Snowiest Month: in November 1978
Snowiest Year: in 1978
Earliest Snowfall: September 4, 1976 (trace)
Latest Snowfall: June 3, 1974 (trace)
Deepest Snowpack: February 5–6, 1971 and the 10th of the same year
A weather station was operated between 1970 and 1980 during the construction of the
Alaska Pipeline, and after a long gap, temperature observations resumed in 2015. Intermittent snow and precip totals were also taken around 2001.
References
# – http://wikimapia.org/1820687/Prospect-Creek-Airport-PPC
# – https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=uselicense.main
# – https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=uselicense.main
# – http://www.akforest.org/facts.htm
# – http://www.dggs.dnr.state.ak.us/webpubs/usgs/mr/text/mr-0085.PDF
# – http://www.dggs.dnr.state.ak.us/webpubs/dggs/pn/text/pn005.PDF
# – https://books.google.com/books?id=vLgeGeYwEI8C&dq=abandon+prospect+creek&pg=PA262
# – https://web.archive.org/web/20070807033244/http://alaska.org/itineraries/tour243-arcticcirclebrooksrangeadventure.htm
{{Alaska
Geography of Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska
Ghost towns in Alaska