Group works to restore site of burial ground

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No one lives in Moose River Crossing any more. The last person living there moved away in 1995. But every May long weekend, former residents and their children and grandchildren travel back to Moose River Crossing.

"We call it the pilgrimage," said former Moose River Crossing resident William Iserhoff. "We go back there every spring, that long weekend in May, and we camp there. We bring our tents and fishing rods. We hunt and fish and clean the burial ground."

Iserhoff was born in Moose River Crossing, and lived there until he was 24. In 1995, Iserhoff began organizing an annual clean-up and restoration of the burial grounds at Moose River Crossing to ensure the loss of the community wouldn't mean the burial site would become overgrown and forgotten.

Moose River Crossing is located on James Bay, 44 miles south of Moosonee, near the railway tracks. The community grew up around the railroad, populated by people working for the railway, as well as hunters and trappers who would sell to the railway workers. At its peak, about 140 people lived in Moose River Crossing.

When the railway work started to disappear, so did the community.

"Their fathers were working on the railway, and they were getting pensioned off. There were cutbacks. So there was nothing there, so they just left . . . . And then once the railway workers left, the hunters and trappers left."

Although the community of Moose River Crossing itself came into being as a result of the railway, Native links to the area date back to well before the railway was built.

"My father used to say that there was people there long before the railway came in. The railway came in about 1929. I heard a lot of talk, first-hand stories told of how the Natives camped there, and spent the summer there. It was a good fishing area, good hunting area, and trapping. There was lots of wildlife around there, so that's where they stayed. And also during the spring, they were protected from the river because of the high banks . . . the banks there are about 60 feet high," Iserhoff said.

More than 250 people have come back to the site during the last five years, with 50 to 100 people taking part in the burial ground clean-up each year.

"And they're from all over. Some of them are from down south, and as far as Fort Erie and London, Ottawa, and up the coast of James Bay-all the First Nations. There's Attawapiskat, and people living in the Mushkegowuk area mostly," Iserhoff said.

Much work has been done at the site since the first spring clean up in May 1996. In addition to clearing away forest debris and pulling weeds, volunteers reset headstones that have begun to sink into the ground, and take on other projects to restore the grounds.

A 17-foot wooden cross has been erected, a fence has been built around the burial site, and the foot path leading to the burial ground has been cleared and widened. New wooden crosses have been put on unmarked graves, and the traditional cedar picket fences surrounding each grave have been sanded and repainted.

This year's clean up and restoration is being held from May 17 to 22.

For more information about the Native ancestral burial ground clean up and restoration, call William Iserhoff at 705-235-5763.