The Olympic Game Farm located in Sequim, WA. (formerly known as "Disney's Wild Animal Ranch") supplied several tame cougars for different scenes in "Charlie the Lonesome Cougar". One happy-go-lucky cat liked to swim and played on some floating logs, so the log rolling scene was added to the script.
Charlie's log ride was made on the 1923 Broughton Flume, the last operating log flume in the United States. It was used to float rough cut lumber to the Broughton Lumber Co. mill located on the Columbia River near Underwood, Washington. Broughton Lumber went out of business in 1986 and the flume was closed. While no longer in operation, sections of the old flume can still be seen on the hillsides above Drano Lake alongside Washington State Highway 14.
The film was shot on location so all of the background roles were cast with unknown novices, most of whom were natives of either Washington near the Columbia River Gorge or Northern Idaho loggers who worked the Clearwater River country.