Galbraith Lake is a lake located in the North Slope Borough of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, United States. The surrounding area is uninhabited except for seasonal residents. The lake is located on the west side of the

Dalton Highway The James W. Dalton Highway, usually referred to as the Dalton Highway (and signed as Alaska Route 11), is a road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse (an unincorporated community within the ...

between miles 272-75 of the highway. The lake is approximately long and was formed by glaciers, and is known to contain

lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can also ...

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota'') is the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish. It is also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, and eelpout. The species is closely ...

and grayling fish, with some reports of

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes and arctic and subarctic coastal waters. Its distribution is Circumpolar North. It spawns in freshwater and populati ...

.Haugen, Scott
Flyfisher's Guide to Alaska: Includes Light Tackle
p. 423 (2006 ed.) A campground is also located near the lake. The lake was named in 1951 after Bart Galbraith, a

bush pilot Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormally ...

who died in a 1950 plane crash while flying from

Barter Island Barter Island is an island located on the Arctic coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, east of Arey Island in the Beaufort Sea. It is about four miles (6 km) long and about two miles (3 km) wide at its widest point. Until the late 19th ...

to Barrow.The Dalton Highway News
p. 5 (U.S. Department of Interior)Orth, Donald J
Dictionary of Alaska Place Names, Issue 567
p. 358 (U.S. Department of Interior 1967)Cole, Dermot
Amazing Pipeline Stories
p. 68 (1997) Galbraith Lake Airport is located in the area, as well as Pump Station 4 of the

Trans-Alaska Pipeline System The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of ...

. A

work camp In the United States, Workamping (a portmanteau word) is a combination of work and camping. A Workamper combines part-time or full-time paid or volunteer work with RV or tent camping. Workampers generally receive compensation in the form of a fre ...

was located at Galbraith Lake during the construction of the pipeline. An

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into t ...

near the camp in 1975 caused some oil to enter the lake and a slick to appear on its surface.(21 June 1971)
Conservationists Keep Alaskan Oil In The Ground
'' St. Petersburg Times'' (Associated Press story)Slick forms on Lake Galbraith: Damage assessed in pipeline oil spill
'' The Bulletin (Bend)'' (Associated Press)Pollick, Steve (12 Jan. 1976)
Fremont Engineer Likens Alaskan Oil Job To Army
'' The Blade''(26 June 1975)
Oil Leak in Alaska
'' Reading Eagle'' Clean up efforts were then conducted.Clean up of oil spill at Galbraith Lake Camp
Alaska's Digital Archives, Retrieved 3 October 2014 The infrastructure of the pipeline construction project in the 1970s also permitted the conduct of archeological investigations in the area, which previously had not been explored, funded by the

Alyeska Pipeline Service Company The Alyeska consortium refers to the major oil companies that own and operate the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) through the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. History The Alaska corporation commonly known as Alyeska Pipeline Company was fou ...

.Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: final comprehensive conservation plan
p. 129 (1988)Alexander, Herbert L
Alaskan Survey
''Expedition'' (Spring 1967)(27 June 1975)
Ancient bonanza found in tough Alaska diggings
''Deseret News'' (UPI)

Campground

The Galbraith Lake

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's l ...

Campground is 359 miles north of Fairbanks and 140 miles south of Deadhorse at the 275 mile mark.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

Climate

Galbraith Lake has a cold subarctic climate, bordering on a true tundra climate. Snow has occurred in all three summer months. During the construction of the

Alaska Pipeline The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of ...

a weather station was operated at the construction site. Because the weather station was operated for only a decade, the temperature record is irregular, with December the coldest month of the year, and record highs and lows less extreme than those of nearby locations. Likewise, the precipitation record is incomplete, with some months having less than ten years of record.

Prior names

Alternate prior names for the lake were "Natravak Lake" and "Sagavanirktok Lake." "Natravak" is an Eskimo name for "big lake" and a common name in northern Alaska.

References

{{authority control Lakes of Alaska Bodies of water of North Slope Borough, Alaska