Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1923-06-20

ed out the hole for Lake Superior,
logged the timber off North Da-
kota and started the Mississippi
river!
If you have ever talked with a
lumberjack from anywhere in the
northern part Of the United States,
you know that those are the most
outstanding feats accomplished by
Paul Bunyan, the hero of all bunk
house yarns that have been hand
ed down for generations.
When and where this mythical
hero got his start is question
that the lumberjacks themselves
can not answer. They all know of
his exploits, however, and from
Maine to Oregon-wherever lum-
bermen have gathered in camps
the tales of Paul 4Bunyan have
been told, retold and elaborated
until today they form true Am
erican folklore. Although at times
Paul is very human, in his bigger
moments he rivals the figures of
classical Scandinavian or Celtic
legend.
For generations these stories
were never heard outside of the
haunts of the lumberjacks, but in
recent years they have been col
lected by educators and literary
authorities who say that Paul is
the only American myth"
Chief Camp in Wisconsin.
A few authorities say that Paul
was born in Maine and then mi
grated westward through the
Great Lakes region to the Pacific
with the numbering industry. Be
that as it may, it is an undisputed
fact that Paul developed to the
zenith of his powers in Wisconsin
and Minnesota during the sos and
'90s.
His greatest camp, his head
quarters the winter of the blue
snow, was located in Wisconsin
just 45 miles west of Rhinelander.
1t was a huge affair, you bet!
The cook shanty was so large
that it took half a day to walk
around it. When Paul blew the
horn to call the men to dinner he
blew down ten acres of pine. The
use Of this horn was so wasteful
that Paul finally sent it East so
the tin could be used as the roof
for Union depot.
When the water tank at this
camp was accidentally tipped over
by the big blue OK the outrushing
water formed the beginning of
the Mississippi river.
Paul was giant among men.
His exact height is not known,
but from the depressions left in
the soils of Wisconsin by his feet
1T is certain that he had a stride
OF somewhat more than seven feet.
Paul couldn't write, so he or
dered supplies for his camps by
drawing pictures of what he want
ed. Once he ordered grindstones
but forgot to draw the holes. He
got cheeses instead. What to do!
"A lumberman can not get along
without grindstone. Paul solved
the problem by rolling boulders
down steep hills and then sending.
his men after them to sharpen
their axes on the revolving stones.
Big Blue Ok Helped.
Almost as we'll known as Paul
Bunyan himself was Babe, the big
blue OK. This animal, though
gentle as a kitten and greatly
loved by Paul and his crew, was
virtually a bovine locomotive.
Babe could pull anything that had
two ends. He was six axehandles
wide between the eyes. The men
strung ropes between his horns
and hung their clothes on them
to dry.
When cost sheets were figured
on Babe it was found that up
keep and overhead were expensive
but the charges for operation and
depreciation were low, hence the
efficiency was very high. Paul
used Babe to pull the kinks out
OF a crooked logging road. One
time in hauling whole section of
timber to the landing Babe pulled
a chain of three-inch links out
into straight bar.
Babe could never be kept more
than one night at a camp for he
would eat in one day all the feed
one crew could tote to camp in a
week. His between-meal smack"
consisted of ten bales of hay.
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