Paul Bunyan
Bunyan, Paul, legendary hero of lumber camps of the American Northwest. Endowed with prodigious strength, vision, speed, humor, and cunning, Paul Bunyan has become the basis of a saga suited to the vastness of the North American continent. According to legend, Paul Bunyan and his giant blue ox, Babe, left an indelible mark on the landscape of America. Paul Bunyan created Puget Sound, the Grand Canyon, and the Black Hills, and Babe could haul an entire forest at one time. Some authorities find a French-Canadian origin for this modern folklore; others believe that the tale was a fabrication of a logging company during the early 20th century. Still others consider it a European import, elements of which were later magnified. All agree that this fusion of bigness with the "tall story" is a legend peculiarly American. This legend circulated through the logging camps of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, where the rugged loggers first heard and then retold the Paul Bunyan fables, adding local or personal or ancestral embellishments. Some of the stories of Paul Bunyan were published by James MacGillivray in the Detroit News-Tribune on July 24, 1910. W.B. Laughead adapted them to a series of pamphlets advertising the Red River Lumber Company. Through these means, the stories of Paul Bunyan found a growing audience. The stories have been rewritten by many popular writers for readers of all ages.
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