Prospect Creek

Prospect Creek is a ghost town in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area of Alaska, sitting roughly 180 miles north of Fairbanks and about 25 miles southeast of Bettles. Its history is tied to mining activity and, more recently, to the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which maintained a workers' camp here during the pipeline's building phase. Today the site is occupied by Pump Station 5 of that pipeline — functional infrastructure rather than preserved ruins.

Prospect Creek also holds a stark place in the record books. On January 23, 1971, the temperature here dropped to −79.8 °F (−62.1 °C), the coldest temperature ever officially recorded in the United States. That figure alone tells visitors everything they need to know about the hazards of the deep winter months at this remote interior Alaska location. Summer is the only realistic window for any kind of visit, though access to this area remains extremely limited and largely industrial in character.