This was a Hidatsa Indian village in SE 1/4 Sec. 8-150-91, Shell Creek Twp., nine miles south of Van Hook. The creek was named Coquille, meaning Shell, by early French explorers to note the many shells in its bed. The village consisted of a few stores, a dance hall, school two churches and other buildings, but it was abandoned in 1954 when the site was inundated by the backwaters of the Garrison Dam.

This was a rural post office established May 5, 1898 with Carolette Smith Hoffman (1868-1950) as pm, but the order was rescinded June 28, 1898. Mrs. Hoffman, a native of MI, and her husband, Charles Ward Hoffman, were associated with the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation for about fifty years as teachers, benefactors, and administrators. The post office was likely intended to be in the village of Shell Creek in SE 1/4 Sec. 8-150-91, Shell Creek Twp., about fifteen miles SW of Parshall, where the Hoffmans lived from their marriage in 1895 until 1908. The origin of the name is unknown, although it is found throughout the United States, and traces to Meriden Farms in Dorking, Surrey, England.

This was a rural post office established July 15, 1921 with Arnljot Sigurd Kjelstrup pm. It was located in SE 1/4 Sec. 11-150-91, Shell Creek Twp., in the extreme NW end of the county on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Chief Poor Wolf selected the name which was the nickname of the pm, a longtime storekeeper here who was a great friend of the Indian people. The post office closed March 15, 1927 with mail to Van Hook, but the site remained on many maps until it was inundated by Lake Sakakawea in the 1950's.

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