The Marvelous Exploits of Paul Bunyan: As Told in the Camps of the White Pine Lumbermen for Generations During Which Time the Loggers Have Pioneered the Way Through the North Woods From Maine to California. Collected from Various Sources and Embellished for PublicationLaughead, William B.
General
The Marvelous Exploits of Paul Bunyan: As Told in the Camps of the White Pine Lumbermen for Generations During Which Time the Loggers Have Pioneered the Way Through the North Woods From Maine to California. Collected from Various Sources and Embellished for Publication
Laughead, William B.
Bunyan, Paul (Legendary character)
The first saw was made from a strip trimmed off in making Big Joe's
dinner horn and was long enough to reach across a quarter section, for
Paul could never think in smaller units. This saw worked all right in a
level country, in spite of the fact that all the trees fell back on the
saw, but in rough country only the trees on the hill tops were cut.
Trees in the valleys were cut off in the tops and in the pot holes the
saw passed over the trees altogether.
It took a good man to pull this saw in heavy timber when Paul was
working on the other end. Paul used to say to his fellow sawyer, "I
don't care if you ride the saw, but please don't drag your feet." A
couple of cousins of Big Ole's were given the job and did so well that
ever afterward in the Lake States the saw crews have generally been
Scandinavians.
It was after this that Paul had Big Ole make the "Down-Cutter." This was
a rig like a mowing machine. They drove around eight townships and cut a
swath 500 feet wide.
Paul Bunyan's Trained Ants are proving so successful that they may
replace donkeys and tractors on the rugged slopes of the Sierras.
Inspired by his success with Bees and Mosquitoes, Paul has developed a
breed of Ants that stand six feet tall and weigh 200 pounds.
To overcome their habit of hibernating all Winter, Paul supplied the
Ants with Mackinaws made with three pairs of sleeves or legs. They eat
nothing but Copenhagen Snuff. The Ants (or Uncles as they prefer to be
called) can run to the Westwood shops with a damaged locomotive quicker
than the Wrecking Crew can come out. They do not patronize bootleggers
or require time off to fix their automobiles.
Lucy, Paul Bunyan's cow was not, so far as we can learn, related to
either Babe or Benny. Statements that she was in any way their mother
are without basis in fact. The two oxen had been in Paul's possession
for a long time before Lucy arrived on the scene.
No reliable data can be found as to the pedigree of this remarkable
dairy animal. There are no official records of her butterfat fat
production nor is it known where or how Paul got her.
Paul always said that Lucy was part Jersey and part wolf. Maybe so. Her
actions and methods of living seemed to justify the allegation of wolf
ancestry, for she had an insatiable appetite and a roving disposition.
Lucy ate everything in sight and could never be fed at the same camp
with Babe or Benny. In fact, they quit trying to feed her at all but let
her forage her own living. The Winter of the Deep Snow, when even the
tallest White Pines were buried, Brimstone Bill outfitted Lucy with a
set of Babe's old snowshoes and a pair of green goggles and turned her
out to graze on the snowdrifts. At first she had some trouble with the
new foot gear but once she learned to run them and shift gears without
wrecking herself, she answered the call of the limitless snow fields and
ran away all over North America until Paul decorated her with a bell
borrowed from a buried church.
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