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Barrow - Alaska - History |
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Archaeological sites in the area indicate habitation from 500 to 900 A.D. Inupiat traditionally depend on subsistence marine mammal hunting, supplemented by inland hunting and fishing. Archaeological
remains of sixteen dwelling mounds from the Birnirk culture exist today.
Barrow was named for Sir John Barrow, 2nd Secretary of the British
Admiralty. Barrow's Eskimo name is known as 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 here 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. Formation
of the North Slope Borough in 1972, the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation,
and construction of the Prudhoe Bay oil fields 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 |
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