Elbowoods is a ghost town that was located in McLean County, North Dakota, United States, on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

Elbowoods was located in McLean County, North Dakota, and was the agency seat for the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation for the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.

[2] At its peak, hundreds of people lived in Elbowoods, which included a hospital, school, gas stations, and various other businesses.

[3] The local land on the Missouri River floodplains was well-suited for agriculture, and the reservation was largely self-sufficient as a result.

[5] The 1941–1942 Elbowoods Warriors high school basketball team and their loss at the 1942 Class B state championship was the subject of a PBS documentary released in 2019.

One of Elbowoods's star players, John Rabbithead, turned 20 that day and per regulations set by the North Dakota High School Athletics Association (NDHSAA), had to sit out the game.

The project garnered heavy opposition from local Native American communities, particularly the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, as it would mean considerable loss of land and cultural resources.