Years ago it was home to numerous mining expeditions and the camp for the building of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS).

Wildlife can be found there even with its extreme changes in temperature; local fauna include anything from black and brown bears to bald eagles.

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.

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.

Prospect Creek is situated 34 miles (55 km) north of the center of Alaska with coordinates: 66°48′48″N 150°38′38″W / 66.81333°N 150.64389°W / 66.81333; -150.64389,[1] just above the Arctic Circle.

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.

[5] Due to a very peculiar setting mixing extreme cold and an irregular massif there are occurrences of tungsten minerals,[6] and also "bismuth is reported to have been found in a quartz vein on Prospect Creek.

Prospect Creek was declared the coldest place in the United States at −79.8 °F (−62.1 °C) on January 23, 1971, with an average temperature of 20.4 °F (−6.4 °C).