Elk River

Elk River may refer to:

Rivers

Canada

United States

Poland

Places

Elk River (West Virginia)

The Elk River is a tributary of the Kanawha River, 172 miles (277 km) long, in central West Virginia in the United States. Via the Kanawha and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River.

Course

The Elk is formed in the Allegheny Mountains in Pocahontas County by the confluence of two short streams, the Big Spring Fork and the Old Field Fork, which join near the community of Slatyfork. It flows above ground for several miles before it sinks into a network of caverns and flows underground for more than five miles. The old riverbed of solid rock, however, remains above ground in this section known as "The Dries." It follows a generally westward course across the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau, through Randolph, Webster, Braxton, Clay, and Kanawha Counties, past the towns of Webster Springs, Sutton, Gassaway, Clay, Clendenin, and Elkview before joining the Kanawha River at Charleston.

At Sutton, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concrete dam causes the Elk to form Sutton Lake.

Elk River (Oregon)

The Elk River is in southwestern Oregon in the United States. About 29 miles (47 km) long, the river drains a remote 92-square-mile (240 km²) area of the Coast Range into the Pacific Ocean.

Rising in the mountains in northern Curry County, in the Siskiyou National Forest at confluence of its north and south forks, the river initially flows generally west along the south edge of the Grassy Knob Wilderness. It then flows northwest, approaching the coast north of Port Orford and entering the Pacific between Cape Blanco to the north and The Heads to the south.

Course

From the confluence of its two forks, Elk River flows generally west and northwest for about 29 miles (47 km). All but the lowermost 10 miles (16 km) of it are in the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. Forest Road 5325 follows the river along its left bank, becoming County Road 208 (Elk Creek Road) after leaving the national forest. County Road 208 ends when it reaches U.S. Route 101 about 3 miles (5 km) by water from the mouth of the river.