Several statues of Paul Bunyan made of everything from concrete and chicken wire to massive wood carvings are scattered across northern Michigan in a variety of places.
But what exactly are the origins of this famed lumberjack? WCMU’s Rick Brewer recently took a road trip to learn about why Michiganders love this large-than-life figure and discover his connection to the region.
Editor's note: This story was produced for the ear and designed to be heard. If you're able, WCMU encourages you to listen to the audio. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Rick Brewer: My road trip started north of the bridge in perhaps one of the least likely places you’d expected to learn about Paul Bunyan.
RB: How many steps is it you think?
Mark Eby: There’s 170 steps up to the top. And every step is up hill.
RB: That’s Mark Eby and we’re climbing Castle Rock a roadside attraction on a plot of land his family has owned in St. Ignace since 1929. We finally reached the top an outlook 200 feet above Lake Huron.
RB: Holy cow. Does that get you every time too, Mark?
ME: Pretty much.
RB: One direction are trees is far as your eye can see, Mackinac Island and the bridge off to another side, and the view of Lake Huron goes for 20 miles
RB: Wow. I am not going to lie; I was not anticipating this.
RB: And just below the peak of Castle Rock sits something else.
ME: We're looking down and we can just barely see Paul and babe cause the leaves are all out. But he’s right down there. He’s been sitting there a long time.
RB: For 64 years, a 16-foot-tall statue made of concrete and chicken wire of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox babe have welcomed people to Castle Rock.
RB: Mark’s uncle built the St. Ignace Paul it in the late 1950s, during a time when the folklore of Paul Bunyan was a part of mainstream American culture. Walt Disney produced a cartoon all about the famed lumberjack in 1958.
RB: People often ask Mark about Paul Bunyan.
ME: Who is he? Was he real? Did he ever live?
RB: The legend goes that Paul Bunyan was a character that came from men embellishing stories at lumber camps during the late 1880s.
ME: Paul Bunyan was just somebody they talked about around the campfire at the end of the day. It was just kind of a mythological, larger-than-life person that cut down a lot of trees.
RB: But why does northern Michigan like to claim this folklore hero? To answer that question, I had to travel further south to Oscoda, where a 13-foot-tall statue of Paul Bunyan stands blocks from downtown. I talked with people who walked by this Paul. He’s got an axe in one hand and an entire tree in the other.
Anthony: I’m pretty sure from what I remember it was he used to cut down trees to help build the land that we stand on.
Vinny: He was cutting down trees and he would make sure the people who used to steal the trees would not steal them
Jessica: Isn’t Lake Huron like his footprint?
Jeremey: When I was in school we just learned about he was like this—some odd giant, you know, one swing took down a tree. Just a story but some people can say maybe it’s true.
Fred Glass: From Bay City, Saginaw north all the way into the UP it was just a tree wonderland.
RB: That last person is Fred Glass, president of the AuSable-Oscoda Historical Society and Museum. During this golden age of lumber in the late 19th century, Oscoda was home to lumber camps where workers would tell stories to their kids.
FG: And here listening to all those stories was James MacGillivray.
RB: MacGillivray went on to become a reporter, and in 1906, he wrote a story called Round River for the Oscoda Press. It was the first time the name Paul Bunyan appeared in any print publication, according to Encyclopedia Britannica and the American Society for Environmental History.
FG: We became the literary home of Paul Bunyan, one of the very first American folktales
RB: And the Oscoda area has embraced this literary claim to fame. Since the early 1970s, every September, the Oscoda Au-Sable Chamber of Commerce organizes a festival called Paul Bunyan Days, featuring chainsaw carving and the popular “best beard” contest. Gaylynn Brenoel is president of the Chamber.
Gaylynn Brenoel: We have that older generation that loves to bring back the nostalgia of Paul Bunyan and the good old days when they used to spend time here as a kid on Lake Huron...There is that pride and that gives them a chance to get together and share those stories.
RB: So, when you’re traveling through northern Michigan on a road trip of your own this summer, be on the lookout for the tall guy and a blue ox in places like Oscoda, St. Ignace, Alpena, West Branch and Manistique. And remember, don’t forget to take a few pictures and read the plagues on these structures to learn how this folk hero has impacted these communities. I’m Rick Brewer, WCMU News.
