The
Elk River is a short
tributary of the
Neosho River, 80 mi (129 km) long

, in southwestern
Missouri and northeastern
Oklahoma in the
United States. Its tributaries also drain a small portion of northwestern
Arkansas. Via the Neosho and
Arkansas Rivers, the Elk is part of the
Mississippi River watershed.
Course
The Elk is formed by the confluence of
Big Sugar Creek and Little Sugar Creek at
Pineville, Missouri, and flows generally westward through
McDonald County, Missouri, past the town of
Noel, into
Delaware County, Oklahoma, where it meets the Neosho River. Most of the river's course in Oklahoma is part of the
Grand Lake o' the Cherokees, an impoundment formed by
Pensacola Dam on the Neosho.
See also