Pre-historic times and the early history of the Foothills project area are diverse, spanning a period from 11,000 years ago to the past 100 years.

Prehistory

The period before 10,800 years ago was one of continental glaciation and variable sea levels. Vegetation was likely cold steppe and the climate was colder and drier than today. Large mammals dominated, most of which are extinct due to glacial retreat approximately 10,000 years ago. Plant communities and climatic patterns stabilized by approximately 6,500 years ago to those similar to today, but fluctuations affected human inhabitants of the region to some degree.

Most archaeologists agree that northern Alaska was initially occupied by immigrants from northeast Asia who had crossed the land bridge from Siberia to Alaska more than 12,000 years ago. The early prehistory of the North Slope area has been documented at sites in northern Alaska that date to the transition from the end of the Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene, approximately 10,000 years ago. These sites can be attributed to bearers of Paleo-Indian cultures and traditions, which seemed to disappear from the North Slope’s archaeological record after 9,800 years ago, and to those carrying the Old World-affiliated Paleo-Arctic tradition, which persisted.

The Paleo-Indian tradition is attributed to those populations belonging to the earliest migrations into the North American Arctic, and who developed a stone tool technology specific to procuring the large mammals of the region such as bison, musk-ox, and caribou. This stone tool industry was based on bifacial technology (lanceolate projectile points and knives), as well as distinctive unifacial tools (spurred scrapers and gravers made on flakes rather than blades). Paleo-Indian sites of the Foothills project area include the Putu/Bedwell site and the Mesa site. The Putu/Bedwell site, located on the north slope of the Brooks Range, contains the first Paleoindian-related artifacts to be discovered in Alaska, as well as Paleo-Arctic artifacts. Early occupation of Putu/Bedwell site may have occurred 9,000 to 10,000 years ago. Close parallels can be seen in the artifact types found at the Putu/Bedwell and Mesa sites. The Mesa site was a hunting lookout used by ice-age hunters. The site is in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range. Mesa artifacts range from 9,700 to 11,700 years ago.

The Paleo-Arctic tradition is generally defined as a stone tool industry that utilized a core and blade technology that produced unifacial tools such as burins, scrapers, and drills on blades. Evidence of the Paleo-Arctic tradition is found scattered across the North Slope. Paleo-Arctic sites on the North Slope include the Gallagher Flint Station near Galbraith Lake and the Lisburne Site approximately 5 miles north of the Mesa Site. The earliest locality at Gallagher Flint Station was dated to approximately 10,500 years ago, but may be as young as 7,000 years old. The Paleo-Arctic locality at the Lisburne site has been dated to approximately 3,500 years ago.

The transitional ice-age cultures were followed by a group referred to as Northern Archaic peoples (Anderson 1968). This cultural group inhabited the Foothills project area from about 8,000 years ago to as recently as 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. Most Northern Archaic artifacts found throughout the Arctic Foothills and the Brooks Range are surface finds. The Northern Archaic peoples primarily hunted large terrestrial mammals, specifically the emerging populations of caribou and moose.

Northern Archaic sites in the vicinity of the Foothills project area include the Putuligayuk River Delta Overlook site at Prudhoe Bay, the Kuparuk Pingo site, Kurupa Lake in the foothills of the Brooks Range, and the Tuktu site north of Anaktuvuk Pass. Two of the oldest archaeological sites that have been documented near the Foothills Project area, the Putuligayuk River Delta Overlook site discovered on a pingo frost feature near Prudhoe Bay and the Kuparuk Pingo site, contain artifacts associated with the Northern Archaic culture and date to approximately 6,000 years ago.

Human habitation and hunting evidence in the Foothills project area dates back to about 5,670 B.C. along the upper Colville River, and evidence of habitation dates from about 4,560 B.C. in Anaktuvuk Pass. Researchers have noted that the tracking of movement of coastal inhabitants inland toward the Brooks Range and the movement of inland hunters to the coastal areas has been complex. Movement of inhabitants from the Noatak/Kobuk river region after 1,400 A.D. resulted in occupation of the Brooks Range and Colville Basin.

The people of Anaktuvuk Pass are inland Inupiat and as inhabitants of the Brooks Range were known as Nunamiut, meaning “people of the land.” The area has been used by the Nunamiut for at least 500 years and by Inupiat predecessor groups for at least 4,000 years. Social organization was founded upon maximizing hunting capabilities, mutual aid and building trading relationships. Caribou was the primary component of the lifestyle of the Nunamiut, constituting more than 90 percent of the diet, clothing, and shelter. The people of Nuiqsut call themselves Kuukpikmuit, or the “People of the lower Colville River,” as prehistoric and historic camps and settlements occupied by many families were on the main channel of the Colville River.

History

During the last 2,000 years, forms of historic Native cultures emerged and underwent development that led to those first encountered by Russian and European explorers in the 19th century. Some of the earliest recorded observations of northern Alaska and its inhabitants occurred in the Arctic region in the early to mid-19th century when contact between Euro-American explorers, as well as the arctic whaling fleet, and Alaskan Natives first occurred.

Mission schools were established between 1890 and 1910 at Wales, Point Hope, and Barrow, and trading posts set up near the missions and schools became focal points for the Native population and settlements. At the beginning of the 20th century, Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson introduced reindeer herding to Alaskan Natives. Reindeer herds were maintained by Iñupiat near Wainwright, Barrow, and Nuiqsut, and the area between Brownlow Point and Demarcation Bay was divided into reindeer herding areas. Also at the start of the 20th century, whale oil and baleen decreased in commercial importance, replaced by petroleum development in the mid-20th century. . The fur trade filled some of the economic gap left by the demise of commercial whaling in 1915, and trader Charles Brower began fur trading operations at Demarcation Point in 1917.

During the period of 1920–1934, many Nunamiut moved to the coast due to declines in subsistence resources, particularly caribou, as well as for trade goods that could be acquired at coastal communities. A significant population shift occurred after a hard winter in 1935–36 depleted game populations. Although the Bureau of Indian Affairs performed a survey to determine if more reindeer should be imported to the area, attempts to bring in additional reindeer failed, and herding ended in 1938.

Most of the trading posts closed in the 1940s. As airplanes became increasingly more prevalent and opportunities for trade and acquiring modern goods increased, some Iñupiat families moved back to historic hunting and gathering areas, such as the communities of Anaktuvuk Pass and Nuiqsut.

History of Present Day Communities within the Project Area

Anaktuvuk Pass

Nunamiut bands left the Brooks Range and scattered due to the scarcity of caribou in 1926-27 and because of cultural changes brought by the influx of western settlers. In 1938, however, several Nunamiut families left the coast and returned to the mountains at Killik River and Chandler Lake. In 1949, the Chandler Lake group moved to Anaktuvuk Pass (“the place of caribou droppings”), where they were later joined by the Killik River group. This settlement attracted Nunamiut from many other locations, and villagers today lead a more sedentary lifestyle than in earlier nomadic times. The city was incorporated in 1959. A Presbyterian church was constructed in 1966.

Barrow

Archaeological sites in the area indicate habitation from 500 to 900 A.D. Inupiats traditionally depend on subsistence marine mammal hunting, supplemented by inland hunting and fishing. Archaeological remains of 16 dwelling mounds from the Birnirk culture exist today. Barrow was named for Sir John Barrow, 2nd Secretary of the British Admiralty. The city’s Eskimo name is Ukpeagvik (“place where owls are hunted”). In 1881, the U.S. Army established a meteorological and magnetic research station near Barrow. The Cape Smythe Whaling and Trading Station was constructed in 1893. A Presbyterian church was established in 1899, and a post office was opened in 1901. Exploration of the Naval Petroleum Reserve Number 4 (now National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, NPR-A) began in 1946. The Naval Arctic Research Laboratory, 3 miles north of Barrow, soon followed. The city was incorporated in 1958. Formation of the North Slope Borough in 1972 and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, as well as construction of the Prudhoe Bay oilfields and Trans-Alaska Pipeline, have each contributed to the development of Barrow. Today, tax revenues from the North Slope oil fields fund borough-wide services.

Nuiqsut

The Colville Delta has traditionally been a gathering and trading place for the Inupiat and has always offered good hunting and fishing. The old village of Nuiqsut (Itqilippaa) was abandoned in the late 1940s, because there was no school. The village was resettled in 1973 by 27 families from Barrow. A school, homes, and facilities were constructed by federal agencies in the summer of 1973 and 1974; goods were hauled from Barrow by tractor and snowmachine. The city was incorporated in 1975.

Oil and Gas History

Exploration of the region for possible oil and gas resources dates back nearly a century. In 1910, President William Howard Taft withdrew oil-bearing lands in California and Wyoming as sources of fuel oil for the U.S. Navy due to increasing concerns over an assured supply in the event of war or national emergency. In February 1923, President Warren Harding added another huge area, in northern Alaska, to these reserved lands – the National Petroleum Reserve #4 (NPR #4).

In the early 1920s, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collected as much information on the new reserve as they could given its vast nature and remote location, mounting with rudimentary field gear an enormous survey even by current standards. Much of the preliminary information on oil-bearing rocks and seeps that the 1920s-era USGS teams relied on were oral descriptions by visitors to the region, earlier USGS field explorations, and oil company data provided to the government. Although these sources suggested oil-bearing rocks and seeps scattered throughout the giant reserve, after 5 years of exploration the USGS concluded that “…Prospecting for oil in this region at the present time is wildcatting of the most speculative kind…Some oil occurs in that region. How much and where are questions that still challenge the resourcefulness of geologists, petroleum engineers and leaders of business…”.

At the onset of World War II, the Secretary of the Interior withdrew all potential oil-bearing lands in Alaska for the war and, in 1943, commissioned a new survey of areas that earlier investigators had regarded unproductive. That fall, the U.S. Bureau of Mines dispatched a team to investigate oil seeps historically reported in NPR #4 by local Natives and explorers of the Brooks Range and Arctic Coastal Plain to determine if they were genuine. Guided by Simon Paneak, a Nunamiut expert in regional history and geography, the team conducted a 2-month, 8,000-mile air and ground reconnaissance with legendary bush pilot “Sig” Wien, beginning at a place known to the Native people of the region as “Umiat.”

At Umiat, the team confirmed years-old rumors of oil seeps, and found a site venting natural gas along with an oil sheen emerging from the bottom of the Colville River. At more sites across the North Slope, in location after location, the Bureau of Mines team went on to consistently refute the earlier assessments made by USGS investigators several decades earlier, concluding:

“That petroleum–bearing formations exist over a considerable portion of Northern Alaska is demonstrated by the occurrences of active seeps. The writers feel that indications are sufficiently favorable to justify an exploratory program for the purposes of obtaining definite information concerning the accumulation of oil in commercial amounts.”

In January 1945, the U.S. Navy began conducting deep-well testing of the surficial oil seepages “re-discovered” by the Bureau of Mines near Umiat. This effort was a part of larger naval operations codenamed “Barex’44” and “Barex’45” (short for “Barrow Expedition”) focused on landing over 27,000 tons of vehicles, construction material, fuel, heavy equipment, men, and field supplies to various points on Alaska’s north coast. From Point Barrow, specialized sleds and trailers with construction materials, fuel, living quarters, and personnel were hauled overland to the remote, inland exploration site at Umiat. Once on site at Umiat, U.S. Navy Seabees constructed a camp, an airfield, and (approximately 8 miles distant) a drilling rig for the first oil well test. By October 1945, a permanent 3,300-foot gravel airfield was completed, allowing larger cargo planes to provide year-round support of the growing camp. In 1946, Umiat drilling operations began in earnest with Test Well 1 drilled to over 6,000 feet and Core Test 1 completed. Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, the firm Arctic Contractors conducted increasingly more extensive geological investigations, seismic work, and drilling operations throughout the area surrounding Umiat, characterizing oil deposits and discovering substantial natural gas in 1951.

Field operations from the Umiat Camp eventually supported the drilling of 11 test wells and multiple core samples on the Umiat anticline between 1945 and 1952. These more fully investigated the geological structure and petroleum production possibilities of the area. Similarly, two test wells were drilled on the Gubik anticline approximately 16 miles northeast of Umiat. At these, gas was discovered before one well was plugged and the second blew out, caught fire, and was abandoned.

These investigations at Umiat proved it to be the most extensive oil field discovered during that period of exploration, and also indicated the presence of significant natural gas deposits. However, due to its remote location and the reduced need for petroleum to fuel wartime naval efforts, in 1953 the U.S. Navy ceased explorations in NPR #4 and, simultaneously, transferred the majority of Umiat Camp to the Air Force for support of its Alaskan operations.

Throughout the development of Umiat Camp and the U.S. Navy test well drilling program, efforts had concurrently been made to survey and establish a pipeline corridor following an established road from Fairbanks to Livengood, heading north to cross the Yukon River to Bettles, up the John River, through Anaktuvuk Pass, and onto the drilling sites at Umiat. Although this wartime pipeline effort never came to fruition, its developmental legacy was resurrected in 1969. Alaska Governor Walter Hickel directed that a winter ice road be constructed to northern Alaska from Livengood following the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay. The temporary road, dubbed the “Hickel Highway,” was a bulldozed trail over frozen ground and temporary ice bridges which, though successfully used for 1 month, became virtually impassable when spring thaws began in 1970. While the Hickel Highway was considered an economic failure, the project nonetheless proved that viable land motor routes through the Brooks Range could be developed that might allow future year-round access to the North Slope.

(Much of the information was summarized from a report prepared by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities – the Foothills West Transportation Access 2009 Field Investigation Summary Report.)