Laserfiche WebLink
EIk River Historic Context: <br />Landscape Setting, <br />1851-1950 <br /> <br />Construction of the Highway 10 <br />bridge over the Elk River, 1940. <br />Photo:MHS. <br /> <br />This historic context extends from the construction of the first <br />dam on the Elk River to the approximate completion of <br />Highway 10 in about 1950. <br /> <br />Elk River is located in east central Minnesota in Sherburne <br />County, about 125 miles south of Duluth and 30 miles <br />northwest of Minneapolis. Sherburne County was set off from <br />Benton County in 1856, two years before Minnesota statehood. <br /> <br />Highways 10 and 169 intersect south of the downtown, and the <br />Highway 101 bridge crosses the Mississippi River to Otsego in <br />Wright County. The Highway 10 bridge crosses the Elk River <br />north of the downtown across a narrows in Lake Orono. The <br />present incorporated limits of Elk River encompass 44 square <br />miles including the former townsites of Orono and Elk River, <br />as well as what was~ Elk River Township until its incorporation <br />in 1978. <br /> <br />The townsite of Orono was platted on the north bank of the Elk <br />River, northwest of the present city center. The Elk originates <br />in northern Benton County and has a discharge of about 250 <br />cubic feet per second at Lake Orono, comparable to that of the <br />Sauk River where it enters the Mississippi? Near its confluence <br />with the Elk, the Mississippi River flows in a sharp bend where <br />it is flanked by steep bluffs and marshes. The river divides <br />Sherburne and Wright counties at this point. The nearby <br />townsite of Elk River was platted on the north bank of the <br />Mississippi, downriver from Orono. <br /> <br />Elk River Historic Contexts and Phase II Dozontown Commercial Area Study <br /> 7 <br /> <br /> <br />