Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-10

Lawrence river, among the French
Canadians, and filtered through the
woods of the A~dirondacks, Michigan
and Wisconsin. Although at times
very human, Paul Bunyan in his bigger
moments far surpassed any of the
figures of classical Scandinavian or
Celtic legend. For the sake of the
young of the land his memory ought
to be kept fresh
Paurs Early Accomplishments
The Red River Lumber company has
made a start in that direction. In a
recent de luxe brochure. c~leverly writ
ten and illustrated by ". r. Laughead.
and published for the amusement OF
our friends" the marvellous exploits of
Paul Bunyan. as told in the camps of
the white pine lumbermen for gener-
atoms. during which time the loggers
have pioneered the way through the
North woods from Maine TO Califor-
MIA have been collected and set forth
in very entertaining style. It is to
this veracious chronicle that the read
ers of this brief review of Pauls tradi-
tional stunts must consider themselves
indebted. If any doubt arises as TO the
truth of the statements offered. we
must refer the doubters to Mr.. Laugh
pHQ = doom. NultH fS' up ~ lAiS udtt,
the only authentic work on the life and
deeds of Mr.. Bunyan, the super lum-
berjack.
Paul Bunyan. according TO the best
traditions available to this chronicler.
was born in Maine-when. no one
knows. but it was "a long time ago.
When 3 weeks old he rolled around so
much in his sleep that he destroyed
four square miles of standing timber.
Then they built a floating cradle for
him and anchored it off PASSPORT.
When Paul rocked in his cradle it
caused a 75-foot tide in the Bay of
Fundy and several villages were wash
ed away. He couldn't be wakened.
however. until the British navy was
called out and fired broadsides for
several hours. When Paul stepped out
of his cradle he sank seven warships
and used the timber to build seven
more. That saved Nova Scotia from
becoming an island. but the tides of
the Bay of Fundy haven't subsidized yet.
From this humble start Paul grew up
TO be the greatest of lumbermen. There
never was a job too big for him to
tackle and his methods were always
unique and effective.
1t was Paul Bunynn that really In
vented logging. so the accounts run, and
his first able assistant in the business
was Babe, the Big Blue OK. Babe
could pull anything that had two ends
to it. He was reputed to be Z AK han
dies between the eyes, according to
some authorities: others equally de-
pendable, say II ak handles and a plug
Of tobacco, hut it is all a question OF
RELATIVELY. The discrepancies are trace
abb. to the standards of measurements.
Seven of paul's AK handles were said
to be equivalent to AZ of the ordinary
kind. Efficient as Babe was as a help
err. he could never be kept over one
night in n camp-he would eat in one
day all the feed one crew could tote
to scamp in n year. For a snack be-
tween meals he would eat 80 bales of
hay. wire and all. and six men with
picaroons were kept busy picking the
wire out of Babes teeth after each
meal. Babe had a sense Of humor.
Often he would sneak up behind a
drive and drink all the water out of
the river. leaving the logs high and
dry and causing the loggers no end of
In time Babe had to have
a special keeper, and he came along in
the person of Birthstone Bill. who
knew all the tricks of the frisky giant
OK before they happened. II know
oxen" Bill would often say. I've
'em and fed 'em and doctored
'em ever since the OK was invented.
And Babe, I know that pernicious
same as if I'd been through him
with a lantern 1t was Birthstone Bill |
that compiled the ''Skinners diction-
a handbook for logging Transfers,