 The Cumberland elktoe is endemic to the upper Cumberland River system, and it still exists in 12 mostly small tributaries in southeast Kentucky and north-central Tennessee.The Cumberland elktoe is limited in distribution to the upper Cumberland River system in southeast Kentucky and north-central Tennessee, occupying streams both above and below Cumberland Falls.This species appears to have occurred only in the main stem of the Cumberland River and primarily its southern tributaries upstream from the hypothesized original location of Cumberland Falls near Burnside, Pulaski County, Kentucky.