Elk Falls is a 5-foot ledge waterfall on the Elk River in Elk County, Kansas, at the east edge of the small town of Elk Falls, which took its name from it. A restored 1893 iron truss bridge just downstream serves as the viewing platform.
The falls
The Elk River spills in a single drop over a ledge of sandstone laid down about 300 million years ago, in the Pennsylvanian, as sand in shallow coastal water or a river delta. A modern survey lists the drop at 5 feet and the state geological survey at four to six feet; earlier surveys listed 10 feet.
Getting there
The falls are in town, near 4th Street and Montgomery Street. A 2020 visitor reported no admission charge and access around the clock. Visitors can watch from the pedestrian bridge or walk down to the water's edge on broad rock slabs.
When to go
A streamgage on the Elk River at Elk Falls (station 07169800) records current flow before a visit.
On site
The bridge area has picnicking and fishing. The ledge drops into fairly deep water, and at high flows it can form a retaining hydraulic, a recirculating current that holds swimmers and boats; stay out of the water when the river is up.
History and name
A partial rock wall below the falls is all that remains of a mill that ran on the river's power. The bridge carried U.S. Highway 160 traffic until the mid-1970s, was refurbished for foot traffic in the 1990s and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The town grew up beside the falls: its first house and post office date from 1870, it was incorporated in 1887, and 113 people lived there in 2020.
Nearby
Hitchen Creek Falls is about 3.9 miles away, Little Biddle Falls on Wildcat Creek about 6.6 miles, and Chautauqua Falls on Deer Creek about 14.3 miles. Sedan is about 17.1 miles south.
Distances are straight-line.