Home >> The People and Their Communities >> Métis Communities >> Historic Communities >> Buffalo Lake and Tail Creek >> Victoria Callihoo (1861-1966)

We know too little of this grand lady who spent a good portion of her younger days at Tail Creek Settlement. Victoria Callihoo felt she was blessed by being Métis and took great pride in telling stories of her life, often relating her travels to Tail Creek. She was very proud of the fact that she was a two-time winner of fine buffalo robes for her expertise in performing the Red River jig. All she needed was a fiddler and a floor.

She took pleasure in ways of life considered difficult today: spreading a sleeping robe on the teepee floor, starting a fire without matches, total reliance on the buffalo for one's existence, and the long hard days of butchering and pemmican making.

Victoria Callihoo was well-versed in the good and simple life. Proclaiming pemmican the best and most nourishing food she ever ate, Callihoo danced the beloved Red River jig in a competition at age 103, performing with enough grace and skill to walk the away the winner.

The simple unhurried life she chose provided for all her requirements—peace of mind in complete compatibility with her surroundings. She neither believed in hurry nor allowed it to shatter her life. Callihoo always took time for nature, horses, her neighbours and friends, and was extremely loyal to her family.

She enjoyed a special freedom few allowed themselves to enjoy. When many were in a hurry to join the automobile age, Callihoo drove in horse and buggy through the countryside. With her family numbering in the hundreds, she wished them all prosperity salted with a wise word of caution; that beyond a certain point, prosperity could become a hindrance to building a good life. Is it any wonder her people call her their Queen Victoria?¹

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Victoria Callihoo (1861-1966)

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