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Welcome to North Slope Borough, Alaska
A Proud Part of the Genealogy Trails
Group
Welcome to the Genealogy Trails website for North Slope Borough, Alaska
Our goal is to help you track your ancestors through time by transcribing genealogical and historical data and
placing it online for the free use of all researchers. This is a continuation of our original Illinois Trails History and Genealogy Project
and we are excited about this opportunity to expand into other states.
We welcome your feedback and comments, and of course, your data contributions. If you have transcribed data that
you would like to have posted on this website, please send it to us.
If you would like to be kept informed of our state and county website updates, subscribe to our mailing lists
This Site is Available for Adoption!
We are looking for a coordinator for this site.... folks who share our dedication to putting data online and are
interested in helping this project be as helpful and useful to researchers as it can be. If you are interested
in joining our group as host of this site, view our Volunteer Page for further information
and contact
Kim.
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Location and Climate
The North Slope Borough is the largest borough in Alaska, over 15% of the total land area. It consists primarily
of the north and northeastern coast of Alaska, including the Brooks Range, north of the Arctic Circle. It has a
larger land area than that of the state of Idaho (although the adjacent Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area is larger in
area, it has no borough-level government.)
It lies at approximately 69.000000° North Latitude and -154.000000° West Longitude . The area encompasses
88,817.1 sq. miles of land and 5,945.5 sq. miles of water. The borough's climate is arctic. Temperatures range
from -56 to 78. Precipitation is light, at 5 inches, with snowfall averaging 20 inches.
History, Culture and Demographics
Inupiat Eskimos have lived in the region for centuries, active in trading between Alaskan and Canadian bands. Atqasuk
was a source of coal during World War II. Oil exploration in the 1960s led to the development of the huge reserves
in Prudhoe Bay and, subsequently, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in the 1970s. The Borough incorporated in 1972. Today,
oil operations support between 4,000 and 5,000 oil company and support service employees in the region. After the
passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971, families from Barrow re-settled the abandoned
villages of Atqasuk and Nuiqsut.
The population of the community consists of 73.8% Alaska Native or part Native. The majority of permanent residents
are Inupiat Eskimos. Traditional marine mammal hunts and other subsistence practices are an active part of the
culture.
Communities located within the Borough include:
Anaktuvuk Pass, Atqasuk, Barrow, Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay, Kaktovik, Nuiqsut, Point Hope, Point Lay, and Wainwright.
Economy and Transportation
The North Slope Borough government is funded by oil tax revenues; it provides public services to all of its communities
and is the primary employer of local Native residents. North Slope oil field operations provide employment to over
5,000 non-residents, who rotate in and out of oil work sites from Anchorage, other areas of the state, and the
lower 48. Ten borough residents hold commercial fishing permits.
Air travel provides the only year-round access, while land transportation provides seasonal access. The Dalton
Highway provides road access to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay, though it is restricted during winter months. "Cat-trains"
are sometimes used to transport freight overland from Barrow during the winter.
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