York Factory National Historic Site of Canada

The Secret of the York Factory Depot

York Factory Depot
© Parks Canada

The existing Hudson's Bay Company Depot, built between 1831 and 1838, is the oldest and largest wooden building in Canada standing on permanently frozen ground known as permafrost. The artifacts and building remains tell about the lives of the Hudson's Bay Company employees living and working at York Factory in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries.

The long-term conservation and management strategy for the Depot developed by Parks Canada includes structural stabilization and repairs. Archeological excavations began in 1991 to record those building remains buried in the permafrost and to rescue artifacts that would be damaged by building repairs. 

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