A new biography about famed Oregon rancher William Kittredge has landed in Central Oregon bookstores. In Bill Kitt: From Trail Driver to Cowboy Hall of Fame, Sunriver author D.L. Jack Nicol chronicles the rise of Kittredge Nicols grandfather from hired hand to the owner, at the time of his death in 1958, of some 19,000 head of cattle.

Kittredge was born in 1876 and made his living ranching in Oregons Lake, Klamath and Harney counties, as well as Nevada and California. He also had ties to Bend and Central Oregon: In 1892, when he was 16, Kitts father, Franklin Kittredge, moved the family from the Willamette Valley to Silver Lake and spent a night at the Sisemore Ranch in what is now Bend.

Kittredge was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1966; under the notes portion on its Web site, it simply says, Oregon Cattle Empire.

In the 1980s, Nicol began interviewing those whod known Kittredge. Nicol is a natural storyteller and self-deprecating biographer: I claim no talent as an author (wordsmith) and Im fixing to prove it, he writes at the beginning of this self-published book.

Nicol mines not just Kittredges life but also life at the time during which Kittredge and wife Maude lived, as well as the events of their day, from the Silver Lake Fire of 1894 to the effects of World War II at home, where author Nicol lived with his grandparents.

In an explanatory note at the front of the book, Nicol writes of the inspiration provided by his grandparents, who raised me from the time I was a small boy, and with whom I was close until their deaths. I was very fortunate they were there for me when my mother died … they were definitely my inspiration.

He also provides a disclaimer for the 450-page books lengthiness: The story is a tad bit long-winded and you might find more than you want to know about some subjects, but just skip ahead; there might be something to interest you further on, he writes.

Sitting on the back patio of the familys home in Crosswater on Monday, Nicol, 79, chuckles and says, Might as well be honest and up-front, right?

The book is, he says, a walk through history, one in which he stops to offer details about ranching, draglines, hog killing, haying and more.

There are some reminders of the past near his Crosswater home. From his deck, Nicol points to a small cemetery a short distance away, its white-picket fence surrounded by the green golf course.

See the white posts? Thats the cemetery of the Allen Ranch, he says, referring to one other stopping point his ancestors made en route to points south in the early 1890s.

I love it, he says of these links to the past. Youre on the great thoroughfare here. This is the Little Deschutes, he says of the gently flowing body of water. This is the path of all the great explorers, the Hudson Bay trappers, and Fremont, all those military … this was the trail that the Indians used for years to go up the Columbia River. Youre on the great thoroughfare here.

Nicol says theres so much country and so much time covered in the book that he decided to structure it chronologically. Chapters are divided by decade: The Gay Nineties, for example, and, for the 1950s, A Twilight Filled with Pride.

Other chapters, however, are divided into five-year chunks. We just had too much material, he says.

Bill Kitt also boasts more than 500 vintage photographs culled from family and other sources.

I got them from people everywhere I could, he says. We had an amazing amount of our own.

With its hard cover, footnotes and careful references, Bill Kitt strongly resembles a textbook. Nicol also notes that many interesting people ride in and out of the story, and he includes some biographical information about characters such as E.P. Pat Mahaffey, Dr. Thom and Klondike Kate.

To complete the book, Nicol collaborated with niece Amy Thompson, of Klamath Falls, and his son Mark, who conducted interviews, cataloged photos and served as editor.

Nicol thinks Bill Kitt will appeal to Central Oregonians who love Lake and Harney counties because of the wide-open spaces and that little touch of the Old West, he says.

We tried to put everything in here that we thought people would be interested in. People live a different life (now). They dont understand it. You go to the store and get a piece of meat. Well, I explain about butcherin.