James is an incorporated township in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

of Ontario, located in Timiskaming District. The primary community within the township is Elk Lake, which is located at the junction of Ontario Highway 65 and Ontario Highway 560. The township had a population of 420 in the Canada 2016 Census, compared to 424 in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. Elk Lake Airport and

Elk Lake Water Aerodrome Elk Lake Water Aerodrome is located on Elk Lake, Ontario, Canada. See also *Elk Lake Airport Elk Lake Airport is adjacent to Elk Lake, Ontario, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories ...

are located here.

History

Elk Lake began as a mining boom town when native silver was discovered in James Township in 1906. Mining activity peaked between 1907 and 1913, when there were about thirty active mining properties in the area. The population at one point reached almost 10,000 people. By 1908 the town included six large hotels, many stores, warehouses, banks, lawyer's offices, a post office, a hospital and a Mining Recorder's Office. The town of Elk Lake was incorporated in 1909 as the Corporation of the Township of James. The Township's first

Reeve Reeve may refer to: Titles *Reeve (Canada), an elected chief executive of some counties, townships, and equivalents *Reeve (England), an official elected annually by the serfs to supervise lands for a lord *High-reeve, a title taken by some Englis ...

was the famous athlete and prospector Jack Munroe. Access to Elk Lake was initially only by motorboat via the Montreal River. By 1909 the road from Elk Lake to

Charlton Charlton may refer to: People * Charlton (surname) * Charlton (given name) Places Australia * Charlton, Queensland * Charlton, Victoria * Division of Charlton, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in New South Wale ...

could be traversed by coach, although commercial steamers on the Montreal River continued to provide summer access from

Latchford Latchford may refer to: Places Australia *Latchford Barracks, Australian Army base Canada *Latchford, Ontario, town United Kingdom *Latchford, Cheshire, a suburb of Warrington, England **Latchford railway station **Runcorn to Latchford Ca ...

for most heavy equipment and freight. The steamboat era on the Montreal River lasted only a few years, ending when a branch of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (now

Ontario Northland Railway The Ontario Northland Railway is a Canadian railway operated by the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a provincial Crown agency of the government of Ontario. Originally built to develop the Lake Timiskaming and Lake Nipissing area ...

) was built into Elk Lake in 1913. Commercial logging in the Temiskaming area dates back to the 1840s. In 1905, the Montreal River Pulp Concession, an area of , was sold to J. R. Booth. From 1907 to 1923, Booth maintained a large pulpwood depot in Elk Lake. In the spring of 1930, Booth completed the last log drive on the Montreal River shortly after he sold his local interest to the E.B. Eddy Company. The Indian Chute Generating Station was constructed on the Montreal River in 1923, north-west of Elk Lake. Today, Elk Lake's economy continues to be driven by a sustainable forest industry. The town also boasts a significant number of tourist camps and lodges offering excellent packages for the outdoor sports and nature enthusiasts. The Makobe-Grays River Provincial Park has protected the Makobe River since 1985. This popular whitewater canoeing route flows into the Montreal River at Elk Lake.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, James had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Mother tongue (2016): * English as first language: 73.8% * French as first language: 25.0% * English and French as first language: 1.2% * Other as first language: 1.2%

In popular culture

Canadian songwriter Hayden Desser recorded an album entitled ''

Elk-Lake Serenade ''Elk-Lake Serenade'' is the fourth album by Canadian singer-songwriter Hayden. It was released on 18 May 2004 in Canada (on Hayden's own record label, Hardwood Records) and in the U.S. (on the Badman Recording Co.). It was released two months la ...

''.

References

Other map sources: * *

External links

* {{Timiskaming District Municipalities in Timiskaming District Single-tier municipalities in Ontario Township municipalities in Ontario