Tilden Lake was a timber mill in the 1920s and '30s and part of the '40s. The mill was owned by the Ellesmere Brothers and employed over 500 strong lumberjacks and millers. A fire destroyed the mill and it shut down for good in the early 1950s for economicreasons. However, a few families stayed behind and made the commute to nearbyNorth Bay and Temagami. The main village road was named for the brothers and now is called the village road and Ellesmere. The actual Tilden Lake was the upper lake where the timber was left to take on water before it was "run" down the river to Elbo Lake to be processed in the mill. Men would go out and "run" the logs down the river, a dangerous undertaking.