Trifter

Moosonee and Moose Factory are small Ontario communities on James Bay, part of the much larger Hudson’s Bay, in Canada’s north. These isolated towns are worlds set apart from our everyday lives by nature rather than distance. The forests, giant rivers and muskeg that lies between them and the south is a more effective barrier than any miles could ever be. In the old days, canoe or ship were the only ways in and out. Today, the communities boast two new links with the outside world, Creebec Air from Timmins and a train called the Polar Bear Express.

Hudsons Bay Trading Post, Moose Factory

The railroad opened in 1932 to service the fur trading posts of Moose Factory (Hudson’s Bay) and Moosonee (Revillon Freres, now Revlon) but, when the fur trade ended in the 1950’s, the rail link became the area’s principal reason-to-be. Moosonee is now a transportation hub. From here, supplies and materials come from the south by rail and flow north to the isolated communities of Hudson’s Bay, by barge in summer and by ice road on the frozen waters in winter.

Northland Rail’s Polar Bear Express leaves from Cochrane, Ontario and rumbles through forests of deciduous and fir trees at first, followed by firs in the middle of the trip, then stunted tamarack, poplars and birches at Moosonee. Along the way it crosses deep rivers, ravines and lakes on bridges made with plenty of clearance to let the piled ice flow safely underneath in spring. This where you see the Canada of films, a land of endless forests and tundra stretching from the densely populated south to the thinly populated shores of the Arctic Ocean in the north. A land populated by Cree, Inuit and other First Nations (Canada’s term for the original population).

Moosonee is on the western bank of the Moose River. It has only two hotels and three Bed & Breakfast places so booking ahead is important. If you travel by the Polar Bear Express, they’ll book accommodation for you. A small museum commemorating the Revillion Freres days is the only remaining link with Moosonee’s fur trading past.

Getting to Moose Factory from Moosonee requires a short canoe trip and landing at the site you see here.

Moose Factory Landing

Moose Factory is a smaller community on an island in the river directly opposite Moosonee. It’s on an island because that’s where the English Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) set up their factory in 1673 for gathering pelts (brought to them by the local native peoples) before processing the furs and shipping them back to Europe. This was well into the medieval mini-Ice Age and, if Britons were cold in their Gulf Stream warmed islands, it’s hard to imagine what the local native people were living through. I have to assume the locals kept enough furs for themselves.

The HBC museum on the island, is housed in, and made up of, the remnants of the trading posts’ 19th century buildings. Each building has an interesting collection of artifacts and, or, photographs of life around the fur trading station over the past 100+ years. HBC employees were shutterbugs par excellence, judging by the exhibits.

Moose Factory Island

Another museum on Moose Factory Island worth visiting is the Cree cultural centre (the Teepee you see in the landing place photo above); a look at the life of the Swampy Cree people before and after the arrival of Europeans. We see history very much through our own story and seeing it from someone else’s adds to the richness of our shared past.

Other sights of interest include limestone outcrops along the river’s edge, and the boulders deposited on the shore. They’re laden with fossils that prove, so the tour guide told us, that this place was once a tropical seabed. (It’s the story of my traveling life, no matter where I go I’m told I should have come yesterday because the weather then was marvelous.) Book your Fossil Island tour through one of the Water Taxis at the dock.

The trip to Fossil Island is worth it for the boat ride alone, even if you have no interest in fossils. Out on the Moose River, away from the town, is one of the few opportunities to sample something that is hard to find in everyday life — silence. When the guide cuts off the engine to point out an Osprey nest or a Seal, the only sounds are the sparkling waters lapping against the hull and even they fade and die before he has stopped speaking.

Moose River’s Sparkling Waters and Canoe

If you crave more time in the wilderness than Northland Rail’s three to five day packages allow, there is an Ontario Provincial Park campsite on Charles Island within easy boat reach of Moosonee and Moose Factory. Charles Island is part of the Tidewater Provincial Park and it has 20 camping sites, most of which front onto the river. Camping supplies can be purchased in either of the two nearby towns, where you can also rent the boat or canoe you’ll need to get there. As well, there are walking trails in the woods around Moosonee, just look out for bears because there are plenty about.

All images are the author’s originals. Ontario Vacation Destinations (two of the text links) is the author’s own website.