Elk Creek (West Virginia)

Geobox|River
name = Elk Creek

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image_size = 290
image_caption = Elk Creek in Clarksburg in 2006
image_first =
country = United States
country_

state = West Virginia
state_

region_type = Counties
region = Barbour
region1 = Harrison
length =
length_imperial =
length_note =
watershed =
watershed_imperial = 121
watershed_note =cite web |url= http://www.dep.state.wv.us/watershed/ |pages = [http://web.archive.org/web/20060523112232/www.dep.state.wv.us/watershed/w5020002.html West Fork River] | title= Watershed Atlas Project. | author= West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection | accessdate=2007-02-26 |archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20050404165853/www.dep.state.wv.us/watershed/ |archivedate=2006-05-07]
discharge_location =
discharge_average =
discharge_average_imperial =
discharge_max =
discharge_max_imperial =
discharge_min =
discharge_min_imperial =
discharge1_location =
discharge1_average =
discharge1_average_imperial =
source_name =
source_location = Barbour County, West Virginia
source_location_note =
source_lat_d = 39
source_lat_m = 06
source_lat_s = 32
source_lat_NS = N
source_long_d = 80
source_long_m = 08
source_long_s = 07
source_long_EW = W
source_coordinates_note =cite web |url=Gnis3|1538618 |title=Geographic Names Information System entry for Elk Creek (Feature ID #1538618) |author=Geographic Names Information System |authorlink=Geographic Names Information System|accessdate=2007-02-12]
source_elevation =
source_elevation_imperial = 1535
source_elevation_note = [Google Earth elevation for GNIS source coordinates. Retrieved on 2007-02-12.]
source_length =
source_length_imperial =
source1_name =
source_meet =
mouth_name = West Fork River
mouth_location = Clarksburg, West Virginia
mouth_location_note =
mouth_elevation =
mouth_elevation_imperial = 922
mouth_elevation_note =
mouth_lat_d = 39
mouth_lat_m = 16
mouth_lat_s = 55
mouth_lat_NS = N
mouth_long_d = 80
mouth_long_m = 21
mouth_long_s = 06
mouth_long_EW = W
mouth_coordinates_note =
tributary_left =
tributary_left1 =
tributary_right =
tributary_right1 =


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map_first =

Elk Creek is a tributary of the West Fork River in north-central West Virginia in the United States. Via the West Fork, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of convert|121|sqmi on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau. The stream is believed to have been named by an 18th century trapper and hunter named John Simpson, who encountered herds of elk along the stream. [cite book| author=Kenny, Hamill |title= West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains |year=1945 |publisher=The Place Name Press |location=Piedmont, West Virginia |pages= p.225]

Elk Creek rises approximately six miles (10 km) southwest of Philippi in western Barbour County and flows generally west-northwestwardly into Harrison County, where it passes through the communities of Stonewood and Nutter Fort; it flows into the West Fork River in the city of Clarksburg. [DeLorme (1997). "West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer". Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. pp. 25, 36. ISBN 0-89933-246-3.]

According to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, approximately 70% of Elk Creek's watershed is forested, mostly deciduous. Approximately 22% is used for pasture and agriculture, and approximately 3% is urban.

ee also

*List of West Virginia rivers

References