Other stories in "Roadside attractions"

• Barn storming
  Driving tours in three states showcase the simple but cherished buildings.
• Goin' on a treasure hunt
  We jump on the geocaching bandwagon and get hooked.
• Father Baraga's cross
  Where the Snowshoe Priest outlasted Lake Superior.
• Fountain City oddities
  Mississippi River village is capital of the offbeat and unexpected.
• Magnificent obsessions
  In the Wisconsin countryside, self-taught visionaries left caches of remarkable art.
• Mad about mascots
  They can be fruit, fish or fowl — but they all have to be BIG.

Paul Bunyan in Minnesota

In this state, the big guy never dies.

The origins of Paul Bunyan are lost in the wood smoke of long-ago logging camps.

The mighty lumberjack most likely was born in the camps of Maine or Nova Scotia. Nevertheless, northern Minnesota towns have taken the legend and run with it.

Akeley calls itself Paul Bunyan’s birthplace, and it’s got a good claim — it was the headquarters of the Red River Lumber Co., where, in 1914, a publicist named William Laughead is said to have written the first Paul Bunyan story in a company brochure. Today, Minnesota's largest Bunyan, a fiberglass 33-footer, kneels with outstretched hand outside the town's Paul Bunyan History Museum, where a 28-pound fish is labeled "Paul's Minnow."

But Bemidji was first to catch the world’s attention. In 1937, the local Rotary Club built an 18-foot, plaid-shirted Bunyan and a blue Babe the Blue Ox for the town’s first Winter Carnival. Coverage in newspapers and national magazines brought crowds to Bemidji, and a family photo with Paul on Bemidji’s lakefront still is mandatory for tourists.

A rivalry began in 1950, when a 26-foot seated Bunyan, built in 1948 by the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, arrived in Brainerd. The rail hub began promoting itself as “Paul Bunyan’s Playground,’’ and for many years, its mascot lived at the Paul Bunyan Amusement Center, where he winked, called children by name and invited them to sit on his boot.

But a Kohl's department store replaced the park, and in 2003 Paul and his 23-foot Babe moved to Paul Bunyan Land at This Old Farm Pioneer Village, seven miles east of Brainerd.

The oddest Paul lives in Hackensack, midway on the Paul Bunyan State Trail. A plaid-shirted midget Paul Jr. waves to gawkers near his buxom, 17-foot mother, Lucette Diana Kensack, who was billed as Paul’s sweetheart until 2001, when a local wag "discovered'' a marriage license and proclaimed her Paul Bunyan's wife.

Paul's chair, baby shoe, ax and other mementos are scattered around lakes country. One town even lays claim to Paul’s bones. In Paul Bunyan Park in Kelliher, a large mound is marked by a headstone that reads, "Here lies Paul, and that’s all.’’

Last updated on August 4, 2008