The Elk River is a short river in the

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of the U.S. state of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. It is only in lengthU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed November 21, 2011 and flows from Elk Lake into

Grand Traverse Bay Grand Traverse Bay ( ) is an arm of Lake Michigan, located along the west coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The bay is separated from the rest of Lake Michigan by the Leelanau Peninsula. The bay is some long, ranges from wide, and up ...

of Lake Michigan. It forms a waterway and harbor for the municipality of Elk Rapids. Elk Lake is deep and is a former arm of Lake Michigan. When the larger lake's level dropped, a belt of sediment separated Elk Lake from Grand Traverse Bay, and a short,

whitewater Whitewater forms in the context of rapids, in particular, when a river's Stream gradient, gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that foam, froths, making t ...

river, Elk River, formed to provide drainage for the smaller lake. The Indians named the river ''Meguzee'', in honor of the

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of C ...

name for the

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

. In the early 19th century, Euro-American settlers arrived. In 1858, someone discovered a pair of

elk The elk (: ''elk'' or ''elks''; ''Cervus canadensis'') or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. ...

antlers in the rapids; the rapids, river, and lake were renamed after the animal."The Village & Township of Elk Rapids", Elk Rapids, Mich., accessed August 9, 200

/ref> The rapids are quiet now, as a

hydroelectric dam Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

has been built. Boats must portage the dam, using adjacent boat ramps. Below the dam, the river opens out into Grand Traverse Bay and forms the harbor of Elk Rapids.

References

External links

Map of Elk River, with location of dam
{{authority control Rivers of Antrim County, Michigan Rivers of Michigan Tributaries of Lake Michigan

See also

References

External links