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The region's economy first developed around the forestry industry. Today, the tourist industry also rely on this majestic Valley forest and its known outfitters.
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The economic development of the Gatineau Valley depended on the forestry industry but three other enterprises were also important: mining, hydraulic energy and tourism.
During approximately 150 years, from 1850 on, the forestry industry supplied numerous local sawmills. It was not uncommon to see large sawmills operating in our area, like those in Northfield and Aylwin that employed some 60 people in the l940s.
There were sawmills in most of the municipalities: Romain Marois's in Blue Sea, Joseph Gorman's in Bouchette, the Campbell and Stearns sawmill in Gracefield, Eugene Poirier's in Lac-Sainte-Marie, Louis Monette's in Low,...
Other lumber industries have replaced the smaller sawmills that are no longer in existence: Bois Jointés de l'Outaouais (Low), Les Entreprises Atlas (Low and Northfield), Domtar (Grand-Remous), Bowater, Manifor and Makibois (Maniwaki), Louisiane Pacific (Bois-Franc).
The mining industry was prosperous between 1890 and 1930 but then it steadily declined. However, what is interesting was the high number of quarries and the diversity of the materials extracted, as the following information indicates: the Pritchard an Sparks mine operated between 1904 and 1909 (mica, apatite, calcite), the Hastey mine operated between 1890 and 1937 (titanite, apatite, zircon), the Blue Sea quarry (granite) and so forth.
In regards to hydro-electricity, the Paugan central at Low which was then the property of the Gatineau Power, the Corbeau central at Maniwaki and the Mercier Dam remain the most significant installations.
The tourist industy is at its climax since the beginning of the
century. This region is renown as a hunters and anglers paradise and
the urbanities have built cottages on most of the lakes within the
territory of the MRC.
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