I can't find the reference I want, but try this: "Elk or Wapiti (Cervus elaphus)Vancouver Island, much of central and western Washington, western Oregon to northwestern California; central Manitoba to south central Colorado; central Saskatchewan to Manitoba; isolated populations in California, Utah, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Nevada, South Dakota, and Michigan; very small numbers in several eastern states, notably Virginia and Pennsylvania. Great numbers in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Washington." Elk once ranged over most of what is now the United States and southern Canada. The Rocky Mountain subspecies, Cervus elaphus nelsoni, is found in (surprise) the Rockies as well as central Washington. The Olympic subspecies (C.e. rooseveltii) is found on the Olympic Peninsula and in the Willapa hills as well as Vancouver Island. A small group of Roosevelt elk from the Willapa hills apparently swam the Cowlitz River and established themselves on the western slopes of Mount St. Helens before the eruption. I don't know if anyone has determined whether the elk currently inhabiting that area are nelsoni or rooseveltii.