Elk River

Town and administrative headquarters of Sherburne County, east-central Minnesota; population (2000) 16,400. It is situated 43 km/27 mi north-northwest of Minneapolis on the Mississippi River, where it is joined by the Elk River; the latter is dammed in the town to form Orono Lake. A fur trading post in the 1840s, it was a lumbering town (known as Orono) in the 1880s, then became a dairying and farm trade centre and manufacturer of concrete products. Its residential sector grew quickly in the 1980s.

Elk River

River in central West Virginia; length 277 km/172 mi. It rises on the western slope of the Allegheny Mountains in Pocahontas County, near the Snowshoe ski area, and flows northwest past Webster Springs and Sutton, before moving southwest to join the Kanawha River at Charleston.