It seems to be an issue with the geocoder that Esri uses. Pelican, AK is a city so it can find it. Cowee Creek, AK does not appear to be a city so it cannot be found and zoomed into (same thing happens in Google maps).
The geocoder has to be able to find something obvious (such as a city boundary of an established city, an address point, or a lat/long coordinate). Otherwise, it is somewhat guessing and attempting to zoom to a suitable area.