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William Plutarch Vandevert (February 24, 1854 – February 26, 1944) was a western adventurer, a cattleman, and a Central Oregon pioneer. After travels in California, Texas, and Arizona, he established a cattle ranch fifteen miles (24 km) south of present-day Bend, Oregon, before the founding of Bend or surrounding Deschutes County. He blazed trails through the Cascade Mountains and was a renowned bear hunter. He sired eight children, including three doctors, and was a leading citizen of Central Oregon for many years. ==Early life== Vandevert was born in Cottage Grove in the Willamette Valley of Oregon to Grace Clark Vandevert, born in England and survivor of the Clark Massacre of 1851 on the Oregon Trail. His father was Jackson Vandevert, partner of Thomas Clark, Grace's brother, in the California goldfields of 1849.〔Burgderfer〕 Vandevert's ancestor, Michael Pauluzen Van der Voort, was an early settler of Dutch New Amsterdam, now New York City. When only 15, Bill's uncle, Thomas Clark, persuaded his mother to let Bill help him drive 29 horses to California. Bill broke his shoulder when his horse threw him but continued on the trip. He returned with three horses of his own, a saddle, and $200 in gold.〔Power〕 At age 17, while traveling to the Silver Lake-Summer Lake area of Oregon with a survey crew, Bill first saw the land that would become Vandevert Ranch. It was a meadow on the Little Deschutes River, surrounded by pine forest, with an excellent view of the Cascade Mountains, particularly Mt. Bachelor.〔Linn〕 In the 1870s he carried mail from Camp Warner in Oregon to Fort Bidwell in California, riding through the area of the Modoc War as it was in progress. He made the San Francisco newspapers when, on one trip, he killed a much-feared "Silver Lake Grizzly" that the hunters who had cornered it were afraid to approach. Bill got so close to the bear that the powder from his gun singed the bear's hair.〔Gardner〕 In 1876 Bill took off for Texas where he joined the large cattle-ranching Hash Knife Outfit. On his travels between Oregon and Texas he spent a season herding sheep for the Requa family in the hills above Oakland, California. During that time he met Joaquin Miller, Oakland's then-famous poet, and reported that Miller was the dirtiest man he'd ever met.〔Vincent Vandevert〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Vandevert」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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