Elk Lake owes its continued existence to the lumber industry.

Long after the fashions in Europe made the fur trade less viable and after the initial silver strikes were over, the logging and associated industries have continued to stay.
The Montreal River offered an ideal transportation means of getting the logs into Lake Timiskaming, and eventually along the Ottawa River to the mills in Hull. The industry in the early days was hard, to say the least. Horses were valued more than men and were treated better. Pay and conditions were bad, but provided a means of winter work for local farmer/settlers at the time. Conditions did however improve with the coming of the larger lumber companies, such as Booth, in 1909, and later A.J.Murphy.
A typical lumbering operation started with what was called "cruising". Taking place in the fall, a team would go ahead of the cutting crew marking out routes, water points and campsites. Construction crews then followed building roads, stables, sleeping quarters and slides for the logs to enter the water.

Cutting crews would work with horses, during winter, hauling the logs to a predetermined point where they would wait for spring thaw.

 At this time the farmers would leave to attend their planting, while professional lumberjacks returned to town for a well deserved rest and relaxation. The hotels and "blind pigs" in Elk Lake would do a roaring trade. The last log drive down the Montreal river took place in 1930, whereupon J.R.Booth sold his interest to E.B.Eddy Company, that introduced tractors to replace the horses, and therefore enabled men to return home each night. The colourful days of the lumber camps were finally over, and a sense of order came over Elk Lake.