Kobuk
Kobuk ("KO-buck") is located on the right bank of the Kobuk River, about 7 miles northeast of Shungnak and 128 air miles northeast of Kotzebue. With a population just over 100, it is the smallest village in the Northwest Arctic Borough. Founded in 1899 as a supply point for mining activities in the Cosmos Hills to the north, it was originally called Shungnak. A trading post, school, and Friends Mission drew area residents to the settlement. Due to river erosion and flooding, the village was relocated in the 1920s to a new site 10 miles downstream, which was called "Koochuck," now Shungnak. the few who remained at the village renamed it to Kobuk. Ice jams on the river still cause high water each year, never worse than May 1973, when a flood covered the entire village.
