Salmon, Ruth Scantlin Roach

Ruth Scantlin grew up in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, where she started riding her uncle's Shetland Ponies at about the age of three. She taught herself to do trick horse riding during her childhood, for fun. After completing the eighth grade, Ruth, who was a scant 5'2" tall, left home and travelled to Oklahoma to join the Miller's 101 Ranch rodeo in 1914, as a trick rider. Prior to the start of the show season, she married bronc rider, Bryan Roach, and became Ruth Roach. She was known as Ruth Roach throughout her rodeo career.

Ruth and Bryan Roach traveled with the 101 Ranch show on a 1914 European tour, where they performed in France, England, Ireland, and Belgium. During the tour, however, World War I broke out, the show was cancelled, all of the rodeo horses were confiscated by the British for their war effort, and the performers returned to the United States.

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