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 121 square miles (310 km2) 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.[4]