The Elk River is an
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
, accessed November 29, 2012 river in east-central
Minnesota in the
United States. It is a
tributary of the
Mississippi River, draining a
watershed
Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to:
Hydrology
* Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins
* Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...
of .
Course
The Elk River rises in northern
Benton County, Minnesota and initially flows generally southward. In
Sherburne County
Sherburne County is a county in Central Minnesota. At the 2020 census, the population was 97,183. The county seat is Elk River.
Sherburne County is included in the Minneapolis-St. Paul- Bloomington, MN- WI Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Hist ...
the river turns southeastward, paralleling the Mississippi River for the remainder of its course, past the communities of
Becker and
Big Lake.
DeLorme
DeLorme is the producer of personal satellite tracking, messaging, and navigation technology. The company’s main product, ''inReach'', integrates GPS and satellite technologies. ''inReach'' provides the ability to send and receive text messages ...
(1994). ''Minnesota Atlas & Gazetteer''. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. In his 1843 map of the Upper Mississippi, Joseph Nicollet recorded this river as "Kabitawi R
ver, reflecting ''Gaa-biitawi-ziibi'' ("the parallelling river") in the
Ojibwe) due to this parallel course with the Mississippi. It joins the Mississippi at the city of
Elk River, after passing through Orono Lake,
[ which is formed by a municipal ]hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
dam.
At Big Lake, the river measures approximately 285 cubic feet per second.
Tributaries
In Sherburne County's Big Lake Township, the Elk collects the St. Francis River
The St. Francis River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, about long, in southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas in the United States. The river drains a mostly rural area and forms part of the Missouri-Arkansas state line along the ...
and the Snake River;channelized
Channelized in a telecommunications environment means that the line that communications have been transmitted over contains more than one message thread, separated in some fashion.
Typical channelization methods include packetizing, frequency-d ...
course.[
]
See also
* List of rivers of Minnesota
References
{{authority control
Rivers of Minnesota
Tributaries of the Mississippi River
Rivers of Benton County, Minnesota
Rivers of Sherburne County, Minnesota