Black River-Matheson

Black River-Matheson is a township in the Cochrane District of the Canadian province of Ontario. The municipality is astride the Black River, for which it is partly named. The Matheson railway station was serviced by the Northlander until 2012.

Matheson was first known as McDougall's Chute after an early trapper. Renamed for Arthur J. Matheson (1842–1913), provincial Treasurer and M.P.P. for South Lanark.

Mining, forestry and farming are some of the principal industries in the area, augmented by outdoor tourism in the summer, such as fishing and hunting. There are three elementary schools within the municipality.

Communities
The communities in the township are Holtyre, Matheson, Ramore, Shillington, Val Gagné and Wavell. The main community of Matheson is located at the intersection of highways 11 and 101.

History
Prospecting started in 1909. The Croesus Mine (1914–1918) became "one of the richest mines in Canada," according to Barnes. Gold was like "plums in pudding" and "one gold nugget was egg shaped, two inches long and one and a quarter across." A total of 16 companies operated in the Harker Holloway area from 1917 to 1925, including Harker Gold Mines. P.A. McDermott found a gold-bearing zone in 1922, which became American Barrick's Holt-McDermott Mine in 1988. Located in the Abitibi greenstone belt, the mine produced 60,000 ounces of gold in 1994.

The Great Fire of 1916 left 243 dead.

Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Black River-Matheson had a population of $2,572$ living in $1,078$ of its $1,403$ total private dwellings, a change of NaN% from its 2016 population of $2,438$. With a land area of 1161.89 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

Population trend:
 * Population in 2016: 2,438
 * Population in 2011: 2,410
 * Population in 2006: 2,619
 * Population in 2001: 2,912 (or 2,886 when adjusted for 2006 boundaries)
 * Population in 1996: 3,220
 * Population in 1991: 3,451

Notable people

 * Harry Brightwell, Member of Parliament; born in Matheson.
 * Bob McCord, professional hockey player; born in Matheson.
 * Dianne Poole, Member of Provincial Parliament; raised in Matheson.