Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan in Akeley, Minnesota.

Paul Bunyan is a mythological lumberjack who is usually believed to be a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill. The character was first documented in the work of American journalist James MacGillivray in 1910. In 1916, as part of an advertising campaign for a logging company, ad writer William Laughead reworked the old logging tales into that of a giant lumberjack and gave birth to the modern Paul Bunyan legend.

Origin: folk tale or advertising campaign?

The National Register of Historic Places-listed Paul Bunyan Statue in Portland, Oregon.

According to writer James Stevens in his 1925 book Paul Bunyan, French Canadians gave birth to the tales during the Papineau Rebellion of 1837, when they revolted against the young English Queen.^[1] This would probably explain the origin of Bunyan's last name since "Bonyenne" is a colloquial French-Canadian expression of surprise and astonishment meaning "Good Grief" or "My Goodness".

The origin of the legends say that at the mouth of the river in the Two Mountains area near Saint-Eustache, Quebec, loggers stormed into battle against the British, among them a fierce and bearded giant named Paul Bonjean, monikered as "Bonyenne". (Another series of related legends are based on the feats of an actual man having lived in logging camps in the Ottawa Valley named Big Joe Mufferaw or Jos. Montferrand.) Defender of the people, the popular hero's legends moved up-river from shanty ("chantier" in French) to shanty. His name was anglified and stories were eventually modified and added upon from storyteller to storyteller.

Later historians hold that Paul Bunyan, and specifically the idea of Bunyan as a giant lumberjack with a giant blue ox sidekick, was created in the 20th century for an advertising campaign. There is no documentary evidence of any Paul Bunyan story being told before James MacGillivray's story "The Round River Drive", published in 1910.^[2] MacGillivray's story does not suggest that Paul Bunyan was a giant and contains no mention of a blue ox companion.^[3] Historian Carleton C. Ames (whose son Aldrich Ames would later become a notorious spy)^[4] claimed in a 1940 article^[2] that Paul Bunyan was a 20th century invention rather than a 19th century lumber camp folk hero.^[5] William Laughead, an advertising copywriter who had once worked in lumber camps, took the stories of an old lumberjack and reworked them into the modern Paul Bunyan character. He sold his character to the Red River Lumber Company, which published "Introducing Mr. Paul Bunyan of Westwood, California" in 1916 as an advertising pamphlet.^[6] Among other things, Laughead invented Babe the Blue Ox, was the first to describe Bunyan as a giant, and created the first pictorial representation of Bunyan. Authors Richard Dorson and Marshall Fitwick cite Paul Bunyan as an example of "fakelore", or a modern story passed off as an older folktale.^[7][8]

Lumberjack legend

Bunyan's birth was strange, as are the births of many mythic heroes, as it took three storks to carry the infant (ordinarily, one stork could carry several babies and drop them off at their parents' homes). When he was old enough to clap and laugh, the vibration broke every window in the house. When he was seven months old, he sawed the legs off his parents' bed in the middle of the night. Paul and Babe the Blue Ox, his companion, dug the Grand Canyon when he dragged his axe behind him. He created Mount Hood by piling rocks on top of his campfire to put it out.

Babe the Blue Ox, Bunyan's companion, was a massive creature with exceptional strength.^[9] Most imagery of Bunyan shows Babe the Blue Ox as being of proportionate size (meaning massive compared to everything else). Among other subjects, a myth about the formation of Great Lakes was created centered around Babe: Paul Bunyan needed to create a watering hole large enough for Babe to drink from.^[6] Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett were said to give Babe to Paul Bunyan, because they were all "woodsey" pioneer types. Paul Bunyan has dozens of towns vying to be considered his home. Several authors, including James Stevens and D. Laurence Rogers, have traced the tales to the exploits of French-Canadian lumberjack Fabian "Saginaw Joe" Fournier, 1845–1875. Fournier worked for the H. M. Loud Company in the Grayling, Michigan area, 1865–1875, where MacGillivray later worked and apparently picked up the stories.

The state of Michigan declared Oscoda, Michigan as the official home of Paul Bunyan because it had the earliest documented published stories by MacGillivray. Other towns such as Bemidji, Brainerd, Shelton, and Westwood; Bay City; Wahoo; Eau Claire; and even Bangor also claim the title.

Kelliher, Minnesota is the home of Paul Bunyan Memorial Park, which contains a site purporting to be Paul Bunyan's grave. Another legend claims that Rib Mountain in Wausau, Wisconsin, is Bunyan's grave site.

The Paul Bunyan Council of the Boy Scouts of America was active in Midland, Michigan from 1951-1971 and two Order of the Arrow lodges have their original roots tied into the fable of Paul Bunyan. OA Lodge 196, Mesabi, from Hibbing, Minnesota, used Paul Bunyan as its lodge totem from 1941–1995. OA Lodge 26, Blue Ox, from Rochester, Minnesota, has used the Blue Ox (Babe) exclusively as its lodge totem and on nearly all patches and neckerchiefs since 1927.

Tourist attractions

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statue in Bemidji, Minnesota.

Ten-meter tall statue of Babe the Blue Ox at Trees of Mystery, Klamath, California.

• Statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox were erected in Bemidji, Minnesota. Other statues exist in Brainerd, Minnesota; Westwood, California; Del Norte County, California; St. Ignace, Michigan, Ossineke, Michigan; Enchanted Forest Water Safari, New York, and in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
• Paul Bunyan Land, an amusement park 7 miles (11 km) east of Brainerd, Minnesota, features a talking statue of Paul with a statue of Babe (its original Baxter location was cleared in 2003 to make room for new commercial development). There are two other (smaller, non-talking) statues located in Brainerd.
• Trees of Mystery, a roadside attraction in Klamath, California, features a 49 ft (15 m) tall statue of Bunyan and a 35 ft (10 m) tall statue of Babe. It also features carvings and characters from stories of Paul. In November 2007 the statue of Babe's head fell off, owing to rain and old, rotted materials giving way.^[10]
• The State of Michigan has designated Oscoda, Michigan as the official home of Paul Bunyan due to the earliest documented publications in the Oscoda Press, August 10, 1906 by James MacGillivray (later revised and published in the Detroit News in 1910).^[11]
• Statues of Bunyan (alone) exist in Old Forge, New York; Akeley, Minnesota; Tucson, Arizona; Woodruff, Wisconsin; Bangor, Maine; Rumford, Maine; Oscoda, Michigan; Manistique Township, Michigan; a recently moved pair of statues sit in Ossineke, Michigan with a neutered Babe the Blue Ox,^[12] Portland, Oregon; St. Maries, Idaho; Shelton, Washington; Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin; Aline, Oklahoma; and also on top of a Vietnamese (May Cafe 111 Louisiana Blvd. SE 87108) restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• Bunyan is depicted on the world's largest wood carving, at the entrance to Sequoia National Park in California.
• There is a 25-foot tall Paul Bunyan at the Paul Bunyan's Northwoods Cook Shanty in Minocqua, Wisconsin.
• The unincorporated town of Union Lake, Michigan, previously held an annual Paul Bunyan Festival every year in July. The festival was sponsored and run by several local charitable and civic groups, including the Jaycees and the Chamber of Commerce but was discontinued in the 1990s.^{[citation needed]}
• Hackensack, Minnesota is the home of Lucette, Paul Bunyan's sweetheart. The park downtown has the statue of Lucette and their son, Paul Jr.
• The character of Paul Bunyan features prominently in Jon Ludwig's Paul Bunyan & the Tall Tale Medicine Show at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia^[13]
• The City of Fort Bragg, California has been celebrating "Paul Bunyan Days" since 1939. It takes place Labor Day Weekend and includes rock shows, ugly dog contests, tricycle races, a huge logging show, and a Labor Day Parade. Fort Bragg's Paul Bunyan, who presides over all the activities is Norm Shandell, who has been Paul since 1969. Paul Bunyan spends the Fall in Fort Bragg, but leaves his Blue Ox, "Babe" in Comptche, California, so it won't make too big of a fuss.
• There is a big statue of Paul Bunyan in Squampton, British Columbia, Canada.

See also

Folklore portal

• Operation Paul Bunyan
• Paul Bunyan's Axe
• Paul Bunyan Trophy
• Paul Bunyan (operetta)
• Fearsome critters
• Bay City, Michigan concerning Fabian "Saginaw Joe" Fournier
• Log Chute

References

Notes

Further reading

• Bélanger, Georges. La collection Les Vieux m'ont conté du père Germain Lemieux, s.j.: Francophonies d'Amérique, Ottawa. Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa, no. 1, 1991, pp. 35–42.
• Gartenberg, Max (1949). "Paul Bunyan and Little John". Journal of American Folklore 62. 
• Germain, Georges-Hébert. Adventurers in the New World: The Saga of the Coureurs des Bois, Montréal: Libre-Expression, 2003.
• Maltin, Leonard (1990). Of Mice and Magic - the History of American Animation (Rev. ed.). Plume Books. 
• Edmonds, Michael. "Out of the Northwoods; the Many Lives of Paul Bunyan" , the Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2009.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paul Bunyan

• Inventory of the William B. Laughead Papers, 1897 - 1958 in the Forest History Society Library and Archives, Durham, NC
• "The Story of Paul Bunyan", Paul Bunyan Trail
• Paul Bunyan: How A Terrible Timber Feller Became the Legend, History of the Paul Bunyan Legend
• Roadside statues and other tributes to the Great Tree-Biter, Paul Bunyan, Roadside America
• Animated stories of Paul Bunyan