 In
the early fall of 1937, the Paul
Bunyan Carnival was organized with Hector Brown in
charge. Various organizations in the city were requested
to take over certain parts of the program. Cyril
Dickinson, of the Dickinson Construction Company was delegated
to build a statue of Paul Bunyan. Earl Bucklen, (on
right) mayor of
Bemidji at the time, was used as a model. All
measurements were scaled up three-to-one. The statue was
built late in the fall and had to be covered with canvas while
the cement was hardening.
In order to get some idea of the labor and materials which
went into Paul's construction, Mr. Dickinson furnished the
following statistics:
Concrete footings to water level: 5 1/2 tons
Weight of statue above footings: 2 1/2 tons
Height of statue: 18 feet
Built in the winter of 1937, 737 man-hours were used in the
construction of Paul Bunyan. The statue is of wood
framework above the footings, over which reinforcing
bars form the outline. Heavy steel laths are over
the reinforcing bars and cement stucco is applied to
this. The reinforcing of the footings is of heavy steel
and continues up through the legs of the statue. This
was intended to be reinforced in such a manner as to withstand
a high velocity of wind. The statue was painted at the time of
construction and is touched up each year before the summer
tourism season begins.
1951
Paul's shotgun rested beside him for many years. Made of
wood, it deteriorated over time and was removed. A
replica of the gun is on display in the Tourist Information
Center.
Photo
courtesy of Linda Spindler, Bemidji |
During the fall of 1937, the Bemidji Rotary Club was asked to
build a statue of Babe, the Blue Ox. A committee with
Newell Johnson as chairman, delegated the task of building the
statue to James Payton.
The government of Headwaters Camp, a nearby logging
camp, owned a large pair of oxen and the largest was used as a
model for the statue. Measurements and pictures were
taken and detailed drawings were made scaling the ox on a
three-to-one basis, the same as had been done with the Paul
Bunyan statue.
These scaled drawings were followed in detail, with the
exception of the distance between the front legs. This
space was widened in order to allow a truck to be operated
beneath the statue.
The ox was built with a skeleton of wooden ribs, sawed and
nailed together at a local boat company plant. After the
structure of wood was made, it was covered with wire
lath. On top of this, was stretched a padding of fiber
and wool, as was used in insulating refrigerators.
Canvas was stretched over this frame.
A smoking pipe, built into the nostrils, created the
impression the ox was breathing in the cold air. The
eyes were made of automobile tail lights and were connected to
a battery. The horns, made of tin, are 14 feet across.
Babe was mounted on a one and a half ton International
truck and was used in parades and shows to
promote
Bemidji
as a tourist destination. After traveling thousands of miles around the country,
the damage to the statue was so great it was placed
permanently beside the statue of Paul Bunyan on the lakeshore
of beautiful Lake Bemidji. The canvas and insulating
material 'hide' was removed and a concrete finish put over the
metal lath and painted blue. Thousands of visitors come
all year around to see and be photographed with the historic
statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe, the Blue Ox. The
National Parks Service recognized these statues an official
cultural resource worthy of preservation, adding them to the
National Register of Historic Places in 1988. |
Robert E. Jorstad was assigned the job of building the sign
through the National Youth Administration program. Bob
spent about 20 hours during January and February 1941.
He was attending the North School which was located on 15th and Delton Ave at the time.
To this day, the two statues stand together
overlooking the activities of the thousands of visitors who come
to see and be photographed with Paul Bunyan and Babe, the Blue
Ox.