Editing Moose Creek, Alaska

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name            = Moose Creek, Alaska
|settlement_type          = [[Census-designated place|CDP]]
|nickname                 = 
|motto                    =

<!-- Images -->
|image_skyline            = File:Moose Creek, Alaska.JPG
|imagesize                = 
|image_caption            = Moose Creek General Store and [[First Student (United States)|First Student]] bus barn marks the "commercial center" of Moose Creek.
|image_flag               = 
|image_seal               =

<!-- Maps -->
| image_map                = Fairbanks North Star Borough Alaska incorporated and unincorporated areas Moose Creek highlighted.svg
| mapsize                  = 260px
| map_caption              = Location within [[Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska|Fairbanks North Star Borough]] and the state of [[Alaska]]

<!-- Location -->
|subdivision_type         = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name         = [[United States]]
|subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1        = [[Alaska]]
|subdivision_type2        = [[List of boroughs and census areas in Alaska|Borough]]
|subdivision_name2        = [[Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska|Fairbanks North Star]]
|government_footnotes     = 
|government_type          = 
|leader_title             = Borough [[mayor]]
|leader_name              = Bryce J. Ward
|leader_title1            = [[Alaska Senate|State senator]]
|leader_name1             = [[Robert Myers Jr.|Robert Myers]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]])
|leader_title2            = [[Alaska House of Representatives|State rep.]]
|leader_name2             = [[Mike Prax]] (R)
|established_title        = 
|established_date         =

<!-- Area -->
|area_footnotes           = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2020">{{cite web|title=2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2020_Gazetteer/2020_gaz_place_02.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=October 29, 2021}}</ref>
|area_magnitude           = 
|area_total_km2           = 4.27
|area_land_km2            = 3.99
|area_water_km2           = 0.28
|area_total_sq_mi         = 1.65
|area_land_sq_mi          = 1.54
|area_water_sq_mi         = 0.11

<!-- Population -->
|population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
|population_footnotes     = 
|population_total         = 534
|population_density_km2   = 133.77
|population_density_sq_mi = 346.53

<!-- General information -->
|timezone                 = [[Alaska Time Zone|Alaska (AKST)]]
|utc_offset               = -9
|timezone_DST             = AKDT
|utc_offset_DST           = -8
|elevation_footnotes      = 
|elevation_m              = 159
|elevation_ft             = 522
|coordinates              = {{coord|64|42|45|N|147|9|40|W|region:US-AK|display=inline}}
|postal_code_type         = [[ZIP code]]
|postal_code              = 99705
|area_code                = [[Area code 907|907]]
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 02-50080
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 1406548
|website                  = 
|footnotes                = 
|pop_est_as_of = 
|pop_est_footnotes = 
|population_est = 
|unit_pref = Imperial
}}
'''Moose Creek''' is a [[census-designated place]] (CDP) in [[Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska|Fairbanks North Star Borough]] in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Alaska]]. As of the [[2010 United States Census|2010 census]], the population of the CDP was 747,<ref name="GR1">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|accessdate=2011-04-23|date=2011-02-12|title=US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990}}</ref> up from 542 in 2000. It is part of the [[Fairbanks, Alaska]] [[Metropolitan Statistical Area]]. Moose Creek is located south of [[Fairbanks, Alaska]] along the [[Richardson Highway]]. Moose Creek is bordered by [[Eielson Air Force Base]] to the south, the [[Tanana River]] to the west, and the [[Chena River]] Flood Control Project to the north.

==Geography==
Moose Creek is located at {{coord|64|42|45|N|147|9|40|W|type:city}} (64.712474, -147.161128).<ref name="GR1" />

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the CDP has a total area of {{convert|1.7|sqmi|km2}}, of which, {{convert|1.6|sqmi|km2}} of it is land and {{convert|0.1|sqmi|km2}} of it (6.51%) is water. It is located beside the Moose Creek Bluff, which is a medium size hill with a rocky cliff facing the Richardson Highway.

==Climate==
Moose Creek gets 13&nbsp;inches of rain per year. On average, there are 154 sunny days per year. The January low is -40. The temperature is comparable to Fairbanks and North Pole, Alaska.

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1980= 510
|1990= 610
|2000= 542
|2010= 747
|2020= 534
|align-fn=center
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=U.S. Decennial Census|publisher=Census.gov|accessdate=June 6, 2013}}</ref>
}}

Moose Creek first appeared on the 1980 U.S. Census as a census-designated place (CDP).

As of the [[census]]<ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|accessdate=2008-01-31|title=U.S. Census website}}</ref> of 2000, there were 542 people, 223 households, and 128 families residing in the CDP.  The population density was {{convert|342.7|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}.  There were 280 housing units at an average density of {{convert|177.1|/sqmi|/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}.  The racial makeup of the CDP was 88.38% [[Race (United States Census)|White]], 3.69% [[Race (United States Census)|Black]] or [[Race (United States Census)|African American]], 2.21% [[Race (United States Census)|Native American]], 1.29% [[Race (United States Census)|Asian]], 0.37% [[Race (United States Census)|Pacific Islander]], 0.92% from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]], and 3.14% from two or more races.   [[Race (United States Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Race (United States Census)|Latino]] of any race were 2.95% of the population.

There were 223 households, out of which 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.0% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.  The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the CDP the population was spread out, with 24.2% under the age of 18, 16.8% from 18 to 24, 35.4% from 25 to 44, 19.7% from 45 to 64, and 3.9% who were 65 years of age or older.  The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 143.0 males.  For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 146.1 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $44,375, and the median income for a family was $44,018. Males had a median income of $24,643 versus $19,583 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the CDP was $17,980.  About 11.0% of families and 9.4% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 17.8% of those under age 18 and 33.3% of those age 65 or over.

==Archaeology==
Coordinates: 64°43'30"N, 147°13'05"W

Chugwater is a large (100 x 165m) site on the east summit of Moose Creek Bluff near the town of [[North Pole, Alaska]] 25&nbsp;km southeast of Fairbanks.<ref>Pearson GA. 1999. Early occupations and cultural sequence at Moose Creek: a Late Pleistocene site in central Alaska. Arctic 52(4):332–45</ref> Samples of charcoal and sedimentary organics obtained from this site demonstrate human occupation going back before 13,000 years ago.

The site is located between the [[Chena River|Chena]] and [[Tanana River]]s. Moose Creek Bluff contains the only [[pictographs]] documented in interior Alaska (Giddings 1941).

<blockquote>
"Strata in some areas [of Moose Creek] contain artifacts diagnostic of much of the past 11,000 years of prehistory in sediments averaging 30cm deep, and seldom exceeding 50cm. Lively (1988) identified three separate components:

Component 1, a basal non-[[Microblade technology|microblade]] level with teardrop-shaped (Chindadn) bifaces and small endscrapers similar to [[Nenana Valley]] assemblages antedating 10,600 BP (Powers & Hoffecker 1989);

Component 2, a microblade-bearing level with asymmetric bifacial points or knives attributed to the early Denali complex or [[American Paleoarctic tradition]] (APT); and

Component 3, an upper microblade-bearing level with notched and lanceolate points typical of Tuktu or Late Denali sites of the interior. Maitland (1986:115) also attributed several artifacts in the upper levels to an incursion or influence by Norton peoples."<ref>JON ERLANDSONI et al, [https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/radiocarbon/article/download/1293/1298 TWO EARLY SITES OF EASTERN BERINGIA: CONTEXT AND CHRONOLOGY IN ALASKAN INTERIOR ARCHAEOLOGY (PDF file)]. RADIOCARBON, VOL 33, No. 1, 1991, PP. 35-50</ref>
</blockquote>

[[Obsidian]] used at Moose Creek came from the [[Wiki Peak]] source near the [[Canada–United States border]]. Such obsidian was also recovered at the [[Broken Mammoth]] site, and it dates to before 13,000 cal BP.<ref>Ted Goebel, Ian Buvit, eds, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bulgq1AeO4MC&pg=PA275 ''From the Yenisei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblage Variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Beringia.''] Peopling of the Americas Publications. Texas A&M University Press, 2011 {{ISBN|1603443843}} p275</ref>

==See also==
*[[Dry Creek Archeological Site]]
*[[Denali National Park and Preserve]]
*[[Tanana Athabaskans]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Coord|display=title|64.712474|-147.161128}}
{{Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska}}

[[Category:Census-designated places in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska]]
[[Category:Tanana Athabaskans]]