HAYES RIVER, Manitoba The Hayes River is one of the most important rivers in Canada's history – it is the only navigable route from the Fur Trade Headquarters on Hudson Bay to posts south of Lake Winnipeg. The river was abruptly abandoned as a fur trade route, and evocative remnants of its auspicious past line its banks. Its sudden, early fall into disuse has ensured that it remain in a pristine wild state. And the landscape is truly spectacular – the boreal forest gradually becomes arctic lowlands, and the river finally empties into the vast Hudson Bay estuary. The Hudson Bay Company Headquarters at the end of the Hayes River, York Factory, was in operation as a trading post until 1957 and is now a National Historic Site.