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Among the hunters who lived at Tail Creek and around Buffalo Lake were Hodgson and his twin boys, Baptiste Vannasse, William Campton, Pierre Des Sault, Michael Arnot, Goulette Ladourier, Ed Boucher, Abraham Salois, Beaudry, Shautaus, and Gabriel Dumont (an uncle to the Gabriel Dumont who was general in the Louis Riel rebellion in 1885). There was always an Oblate priest accompanying the hunters and attending to the spiritual needs of the Métis and First Nations. Among the members of the clergy were Father Lacombe, Father Andre, Father Lestenc, Father Doucetee, and Father Faford who was killed at Frog Lake in 1885.

The village site was located nearby at Buffalo Tail Creek, and the settlement of Tail Creek des Métis was reported to have had up to 400 dwellings. This settlement originally extended across Buffalo Tail Creek, up along the side of the hill and across the flat. In the deep gully located between the old cemetery and the flat (once full of buffalo bones), Métis hunters drove the buffalo for the kill. The First Nations, who called it Kioocus or Enewoosuyyis, had also long used Buffalo Tail Creek.

The community was a staging area for Métis from as far north as Lac La Biche, Lac Ste Anne, St. Albert, Edmonton, and Batoche. From the village, the Métis provided meat and hides for Edmonton and the settlement was a major distribution point for free traders trading into Montana and Red River. Mule trains extending two miles in length were used to take furs from Tail Creek des Métis to Fort Benton, Montana. Hunt captains for the hunt from Tail Creek were William Camion, Michel Arnot, Ed Boucher, Pierre Desault, Baptiste Vaness, Gabriel Dumont, Shoutoux, Ladoneur, Ed Bincer, and Abraham Salois.

During the 1870s, Edmonton proper had a very small population compared to the Métis settlements at Tail Creek and Buffalo Lake. Even St. Boniface only had a population of 750 at this time. Nonetheless, when buffalo became scarce, the population of the settlements dwindled. Still, not everyone moved away move away. The 1901 census lists 91 individuals who can be identified as descendents of the Tail Creek buffalo hunters. They included the Vaness family, the Allard family, the Roselle family, the Dumont family, the Whitfords, Tanners, and one Cardinal family. According to the 1906 census, of the 191 individuals inhabiting Tail Creek, 30 were descendents of the Métis buffalo hunter community. 

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The People of Tail Creek

Victoria Callihoo (1861-1966)

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