McKay Township, now part of Laurentian Hills, occupies a rugged section of the Ottawa River corridor. Originally surveyed in the mid-19th century, its location made it strategic for logging, mineral extraction, and later, energy and research infrastructure. Like neighboring Rolph and Buchanan, McKay hosted early timber limits and later supported roads connecting river settlements to inland resource areas.

The township contains a variety of lot types, including patent lots issued to timber companies, free grants to settlers, and large swaths of Crown reserve. Development remained sparse, with no large townsites emerging.

Surveyors in McKay Township face a patchwork of lot fabric: regular concession blocks abruptly interrupted by steep terrain, hydro corridors, and federal expropriations. Title chains may involve overlapping resource grants, old timber licenses, or railway rights-of-way. Modern work often requires reconciling multiple plan types and resolving boundary ambiguities caused by terrain or administrative error.