Elkhorn Creek
Location
CountryUnited States
StateWest Virginia
CountyMcDowell, Mercer
Physical characteristics
SourceCoaldale Mountain
  locationMercer County, West Virginia
  coordinates37°20′50″N 81°20′20″W / 37.34722°N 81.33889°W / 37.34722; -81.33889[1]
  elevation2,674 ft (815 m)[2]
MouthTug Fork
  location
Welch, West Virginia
  coordinates
37°25′49″N 81°35′10″W / 37.43028°N 81.58611°W / 37.43028; -81.58611[1]
  elevation
1,296 ft (395 m)[1]
Basin features
Tributaries 
  rightNorth Fork Elkhorn Creek

Elkhorn Creek is a 23.7-mile-long (38.1 km)[3] tributary of the Tug Fork, belonging to the Ohio River and Mississippi River watersheds. It is located in McDowell and Mercer counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Elkhorn Creek is also known as Elkhorn Fork and Elkhorn River.

According to tradition, Elkhorn Creek was named after an incident when a pioneer hunter displayed an elk's horn near the creek's mouth.[4]

Tributaries

Tributary streams are listed from source to mouth.

  • Angle Hollow
  • Turkey Gap Branch
  • Johns Knob Branch
  • Lick Branch
  • Trace Branch
  • North Fork Elkhorn Creek
    • Bearwallow Branch
    • Buzzard Branch
  • Burk Creek
  • Clark Branch
  • Coalbank Branch
  • Big Branch
  • Bottom Creek
  • Rockhouse Branch
  • Laurel Branch
  • Upper Belcher Branch
  • Lick Branch
  • Meetinghouse Branch
  • Mill Creek

List of cities and towns along Elkhorn Creek

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Elkhorn Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2004-04-24.
  2. "Elkhorn Creek Source". Elevation Query. U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  3. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed June 13, 2011
  4. Kenny, Hamill (1945). West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains. Piedmont, WV: The Place Name Press. p. 225.
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