After Booth Lumber had moved out of the area at the turn of the century, the logging industry continued to grow because the people who worked for the Booth company, decided to stay and try to make it on their own. Many opened independant saw mills along the Mattawa and Ottawa rivers and prospered, while some just opened for a few seasons, then closed. Bigger companies like Guelph Cask Veneer and Plywood and Weyerhauser moved to Mattawa which kept many newcomers and locals employed and the town prospering. Lumbering has been a thriving industry in Mattawa since the 1830s.