Moose Factory is a community in the Cochrane District, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Moose Factory Island, near the mouth of the Moose River, which is at the southern end of James Bay. It was the first English-speaking settlement in Ontario and the second Hudson's Bay Company post to be set up in North America after Fort Rupert. On the mainland, across the Moose River, is the nearby community of Moosonee, which is accessible by water taxi in the summer, ice road in the winter and chartered helicopter in the off-season (break-up or freeze-up).
The settlement is mainly inhabited by the Cree, but the hospital which provides healthcare services to the people of the island and surrounding area (collectively known as the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority) attracts a diverse group of people as an employer.
The term "Factory" refers to the jurisdiction of a factor (a business agent or merchant in charge of buying or selling) of the Hudson's Bay Company. Just as a rector presides over a rectory, a factor holds authority over a factory.
Read more about Moose Factory: History, Economy, Healthcare, Education, Political Organization, Attractions and Tourism, Notable Resident
Famous quotes containing the words moose and/or factory:
“The moose is singularly grotesque and awkward to look at. Why should it stand so high at the shoulders? Why have so long a head? Why have no tail to speak of?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... you can have a couple of seconds to rest in. I mean seconds. You have about two seconds to wait while the blanker is on the felt drawing the moisture out. You can stand and relax those two seconds—three seconds at most. You wish you didn’t have to work in a factory. When it’s all you know what to do, that’s what you do.”
—Grace Clements, U.S. factory worker. As quoted in Working, book 5, by Studs Terkel (1973)