The East Savanna River is a small yet historic stream in Aitkin and Saint Louis counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota.

The lower course was a winding stream with clay banks through a mixed forest; beavers dropped many trees into and across the river.

[9] The stream was part of the Northwest Trail, and led to the Savanna Portage, a historic trade route between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin in central North America.

Members of the First Nations, and later fur traders, missionaries, and explorers, ascended the Saint Louis River from its mouth at Fond du Lac (in modern Duluth, Minnesota), then went up the East Savanna to the portage, crossed the portage and the divide to the West Savanna, and descended that stream to the Prairie River and Big Sandy Lake to the Mississippi.

[12] Prior to the channelization of the river described above, Muskeg Lake, several miles to the south of the start of the portage, was considered to be the source.