The end of the road is an interesting place to arrive at. Especially when it holds the kind of mystery that Moosonee does. It’s one of the oldest settlements in Ontario, was home to the iconic Hudson’s Bay Company for hundreds of years, and was accessible only by canoe or ice road until the 1930s. There’s a sort of intangible mythology to this part of the north, things you think you know or have learned, but once you’re here, you realize understanding is way beyond your grasp.
The train from Cochrane travels through changes in scenery, as the trees get smaller and more sparse. Finally, at the 140 mile marker, there’s a huge bridge over the wide and shallow Moose River (apparently the pilings sink two feet into the river bed when the train passes overhead). That’s when things really start to feel otherworldly.
Disembarking into a flurry of locals greeting familiar faces, we made our way to our accommodation, the beautiful Moose River Bed & Breakfast. Our host Candice shared some fascinating stories of her childhood in Moose Factory, and sent us off on our adventure across the water. We wandered through town, which spans several blocks between the train tracks and the river, where we found the water taxi dock and set off across the river to explore Moose Factory Island, the site of the old British Moose Fort and the Hudson’s Bay fur trading post.
We had no idea what to expect as we wandered up the hill from the dock and around the main road, which takes you from the old powder blue hospital, built in the 1950s to quarantine TB patients, in a loop around the shoreline of the island to Centennial Park, where all the old HBC and old fort paraphernalia is housed. Along the way we followed a dirt track along a glorious view of the water, and passed the site of the old mission school and an Anglican chapel built in the 1850s, and in the process of being restored by the community.
On the water near centennial park is the fur press, in the photograph. Trappers would bring their furs to trade for rifles; stacked one on top of another and squeezed down by the press, they had to be as tall as the rifle was. Staring out at the river, it was easy to feel the past.
Tomorrow — heading to James Bay in a boat with Nolan and Jenn from Moose River Tours!
Photo by Alexandra Sawicki
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