MOOSE FACTORY

unincorporated locality, Cochrane district, northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is located on Moose Factory Island, in the estuary of the Moose River, at the southern end of James Bay, 200 miles (320 km) north-northeast of Timmins. Originally established as a Hudson's Bay Company fur-trading post by Charles Bayly in 1673, it was captured by the French in 1686 and later destroyed. Since it was reestablished in 1730, the post has been in continuous operation, and the predominantly Cree Indian population is still dependent upon trapping as a livelihood. Moose Factory is the site of an Anglican mission and school (1850) and a large hospital constructed in the early 1950s. The Ontario Northland Railway serves the community from its northern terminus at nearby Moosonee. Pop. (1981) 1,452.