12/18/2006:
North Dakota rodeo and Wild West Show star Scott Gore was born on December 16, 1880, at Deadwood, South Dakota. His parents, Bruce “R.B.” and Ella (Ayres) Gore came to North Dakota in the 1890s and worked for the Pierre Wibaux W Bar Ranch.
Scott worked for the W Bar, also, and, in the late 1890s, established his own cattle and horse ranch at the mouth of Beicegel Creek where it enters the Little Missouri River in southwestern McKenzie County. There, about 20 miles west of Grassy Butte, he raised huge herds of horses and his OTO brand was known throughout the country.
Scott became a nationally known rodeo champion and rancher, holding that reputation for many years. He was a North Dakota state saddle bronc champion and rode in rodeos and performed in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in Europe.
Claimed by many to be the champion rider of the world, Scott rode a dark brown three-year-old horse and put on a show the crowds enjoyed. A July 8, 1915, article in the Schafer Record once said, “. . . Old timers say that Scott put up the best ride on the best acting horse they ever saw . . . .”
When Scott was riding in a local rodeo, many took off from their farm work just to see him ride. Considered a “real cowboy’s cowboy,” Scott owned cattle, horses and land and made his living on horseback for more than 65 years.
Elmer Clark, 2001 North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee, once said, “Scott could ride all the top tough saddle broncs in North Dakota and also Tipperary, a well-known South Dakota saddle bronc.”
One story says that Tipperary’s owners once advertised $100 to anyone who could ride Tipperary. Scott rode him, but the owners said the horse was sick so they didn’t pay the $100.
Elmer also said Scott was super human in the way he could ride tough horses and in the hard work he did on the ranch, riding and putting up log buildings. His ranch included a large log house and a 21-box stall barn.
Scott once rode Bad Land Charley, a bucking bronco that defeated many riders over the years. Some of the best riders in the west were bucked off, but Scott managed to stay on.
He was not only an outstanding rodeo rider, but also a top cowboy on the range and a very good horse trainer. He was inducted into the Range Riders Museum Memorial Hall in Miles City, Montana, and into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2002.
Scott married Alice Wentworth in Glendive, Montana, in 1905, and they had one son, Merrill. He still owned his ranch and stock when he died in Dickinson on March 2, 1955, and is buried in Poker Jim Cemetery, about five miles north of his ranch.
By Cathy A. Langemo, WritePlus Inc.