Canada's insider blog

Incongruously squatting on wild, road-less tundra on Hudson Bay’s shores in northern Manitoba is a massive white wooden building. Along with a tiny cemetery and the ruin of a powder magazine, this is all that’s left of York Factory, once the 50-building headquarters for a fur empire stretching across 2.25 million sq km (1.4 million sq mi) of North America.

Established in 1684, the remote post shut down in 1956 and became a Parks Canada National Historic Site. Archaeologists have unearthed masses of artefacts from harmonicas to ship’s anchors, which are displayed on three storeys of the 1833 building which was cleverly constructed by shipwrights to move like a ship on waves atop the shifting permafrost.

The muddy embankment in front of the building is dangerously eroding away, threatening the structure. As the banks crumble they spit out a staggering collection of treasures from cannon balls and clay pipes to cast iron stove doors, a surreal beachcomber’s dream.

Visited by less than 100 people annually, York – 250 km (155 mi) south of Churchill – is accessible by plane charter, paddling the Hayes River or on yearly fur trading tours. The site is staffed from about mid-June to mid-September and there is a new polar bear-enclosed camping area with toilet facilities for intrepid travellers.