"The Danish explorer Jans Munk wintered across the river above this point in 1619-20. In 1689 the Hudson's Bay Company attempted to establish a post and whale fishery here, but it was only in 1717 that James Knight built a permanent wooden fort at Munk's wintering site. Between 1740 and 1782 the company occupied the stone Prince of Wales Fort on Eskimo Point; when the French destroyed the latter, Samuel Hearne rebuilt Fort Churchill on Knight's original site in 1783. The post operated throughout the 19th century, and with the completion of the Hudson Bay Railway in 1929 Churchill became Manitoba's only port."