Bunyan, Paul, is a giant lumberjack in American folklore. He became famous for his great strength and incredible logging feats. Bunyan ranks among the greatest legendary frontier heroes who helped settle and develop the United States. He has become a fixture of modern urban folklore, reflecting what urban residents think lumberjacks admired and told of in their legends.
According to legend, Paul Bunyan created much of America and invented logging in the Pacific Northwest. He dug Puget Sound in Washington to float huge logs to the mill. He cleared trees from North and South Dakota and made the land in those states suitable for farming. He also scooped out the Great Lakes to provide drinking water for his giant blue ox, Babe.
Many stories about Paul Bunyan center on Babe. The ox ate tremendous amounts of hay and potato peels and could haul a whole forest of logs. When Babe needed new shoes, Big Ole the blacksmith had to open a new iron mine in Minnesota. The shoes were so heavy that Big Ole sank knee-deep into solid rock while carrying them.
No one knows how the legend of Paul Bunyan began. Some historians think it developed from old French folk tales about giants. French-Canadian lumberjacks may have passed on these tales in the New World. But the popular image of Bunyan was created largely by advertising, the press, and books for children. The first known written references to Bunyan appeared in stories by James McGillivray, an American journalist, published in Michigan newspapers in 1906 and 1910. McGillivray based his stories on tales he had heard from Michigan lumberjacks. In 1914, an American lumber company began to issue promotional booklets with stories and cartoons about Bunyan.
During the 1920’s, Paul Bunyan tales became a popular feature in many newspapers. Two books about Bunyan, one by Esther Shephard in 1924 and the other by James Stevens in 1925, helped spread the legend. Since then, stories about Bunyan have been featured in ballets, dramas, operas, and especially children’s books.
