Salt Creek (Des Plaines River tributary)

{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}

{{Infobox river

| name = Salt Creek

| image = File:VIEW TO SOUTHWEST, EAST SIDE OF BRIDGE - Fullersburg Bridge, Spanning Salt Creek at York Road, Oak Brook, Du Page County, IL HAER ILL, 22-OAKB, 1-2.tif

| image_caption = Creek showing York Road/Fullersburg Bridge and Graue Mill

| image_size =

| map =

| map_caption =

| source1_location = Elk Grove Village, Illinois

| source1_coordinates= {{coord|42.0994706|-88.1114642|region:US-IL|format=dms|name=Salt Creek origin}}

| mouth_location = Confluence with the Des Plaines River, Lyons, Illinois

| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|41.8183649|-87.8325578|region:US-IL|format=dms|name=Salt Creek mouth|display=inline,title}}

| progression = Salt Creek → Des Plaines → Illinois → Mississippi → Gulf of Mexico

| source1_elevation =

| mouth_elevation = {{convert|607|ft|m|abbr=on}}

| length = {{convert|43|mi|km|abbr=on}}

| custom_label = GNIS ID

| custom_data = {{GNIS 4|422069}}

}}

{{GeoGroup}}

Salt Creek is a {{convert|43.4|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}}U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. [http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ The National Map], accessed May 13, 2011 stream in northeastern Illinois.{{gnis|422069|Salt Creek}} It is an important tributary of the Des Plaines River, part of the Illinois River and ultimately the Mississippi River watersheds. It rises in northwest Cook County at Wilke Marsh in Palatine and flows in a meandering course generally southward through DuPage County, returning to central Cook County and emptying into the Des Plaines River in Riverside, Illinois. Most of the creek's watershed is urbanized, densely populated and flood-prone. Tributary streams include Addison Creek.

It was originally known to European settlers as the Little Des Plaines River but was given the name Salt Creek in the mid-nineteenth century after a large wagonload of salt spilled in the waterway. Some of the species of fish in the creek include carp, smallmouth bass, northern pike, bluegill/sunfish minnow/shad, and bullhead catfish.{{Cite web |title=Salt Creek |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1111.html}} The Graue Mill, a historic gristmill, stands on the bank of the creek in Oak Brook.