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 year of the Two Winters they had winter all summer and then in the
fall it turned colder. One day Big Joe set the boiling coffeepot on the
stove and it froze so quick that the ice was hot. That was right after
Paul had built the Great Lakes and that winter they froze clear to the
bottom. They never would have thawed out if Paul had not chopped out the
ice and hauled it out on shore for the sun to melt. He finally got all
the ice thawed but he had to put in all new fish.
The next spring was the year the rain came up from China. It rained so
hard and so long that the grass was all washed out by the roots and Paul
had a great time feeding his cattle. Babe had to learn to eat pancakes
like Benny. That was the time Paul used the straw hats for an emergency
ration.
When Paul's drive came down, folks in the settlements were astonished to
see all the river-pigs wearing huge straw hats. The reason for this was
soon apparent. When the fodder ran out every man was politely requested
to toss his hat into the ring. Hundreds of straw hats were used to make
a lunch for Babe.
When Paul Bunyan took up efficiency engineering he went at the the job
with all his customary thoroughness. He did not fool around clocking the
crew with a stop watch, counting motions and deducting the ones used for
borrowing chews, going for drinks, dodging the boss and preparing for
quitting time. He decided to cut out labor altogether.
"What's the use," said Paul, "of all this sawing, swamping, skidding,
decking, grading and icing roads, loading, hauling and landing? The
object of the game is to get the trees to the landing, ain't it? Well,
why not do it and get it off your mind?"
So he hitched Babe to a section of land and snaked in the whole 640
acres at one drag. At the landing the trees were cut off just like
shearing a sheep and the denuded section hauled back to its original
place. This simplified matters and made the work a lot easier. Six trips
a day, six days a week just cleaned up a township for section 37 was
never hauled back to the woods on Saturday night but was left on the
landing to wash away in the early spring when the drive went out,
Documentary evidence of the truth of this is offered by the United
States government surveys. Look at any map that shows the land
subdivisions and you will never find a township with more than
thirty-six sections.
The foregoing statement, previously published, has caused some
controversy. Mr. T. S. Sowell of Miami, Florida wrote to us citing the
townships in his State that have sections numbered 37 to 40. He said
that the government survey had been complicated by the old Spanish land
grants. We put the matter up to Paul Bunyan and from his camp near
Westwood came this reply:
Red River Advertising Department.
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