Moose River (Ontario)

Moose River
Moose River as seen from the ONR railway bridge
Moose River basin map
Location of the mouth of the Moose River in Ontario
Location
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
District	Cochrane
Physical characteristics
Source confluence	Mattagami and Missinaibi Rivers
• location	Unnamed wilderness of Unorg. Cochrane District
• coordinates	50°44′08″N 81°28′02″W / 50.73556°N 81.46722°W / 50.73556; -81.46722
Mouth	James Bay
• location	17 km NE from Moosonee
• coordinates	51°21′02″N 80°23′57″W / 51.35056°N 80.39917°W / 51.35056; -80.39917
Length	104 km (65 mi)[1]
Basin size	108,500 km2 (41,900 sq mi)[1]
Discharge
• average	1,370 m3/s (48,000 cu ft/s)[1]

The Moose River is a river in the Hudson Plains ecozone of northern Ontario, Canada. The river flows 100 km northeast from the confluence of the Mattagami and Missinaibi Rivers into James Bay. Its drainage basin is 108,500 square kilometres (41,900 sq mi) and it has a mean discharge rate of 1,370 cubic metres (48,000 cu ft). Its full length is 547 kilometres (340 mi) if counted from the head of the Mattagami River.^[1]

This river formed part of the water route to Lake Superior in the days of the fur trade. Moose Factory, located on Moose Factory Island near the river's mouth, was a fur trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company and Ontario's first English settlement. Moosonee, on the north bank of the river, is the northern terminus of the Polar Bear Express railway route which begins at Cochrane, Ontario.