He was a product of oral folklore that later found his way into print.
Supposedly Bunyan had logged millions of trees in North Dakota (my childhood home) which accounted for the miles of treeless prairie land.
The stories of his exploits are legendary but I know that the gigantic Bunyan was REAL because I met him once and he called me by name.
I am in the lower left of the photo, standing next to one of Paul's big dogs and in front of the man himself.
Paul would turn his head, raise one arm and greet visitors by name and perhaps the town they came from.
At this time he was located in the Paul Bunyan Amusement Park near Brainerd, Minnesota.
Later the park closed but Paul and Babe were relocated to what is now Paul Bunyan Land, a few miles east of Brainerd.
When I visited Paul back in the day I was also photographed with a chipmunk from his tales.
Everything was outsize in the park, including my long legs.
An uncle of mine owned a cabin on Camp Lake, which was only about 20 miles away so my visit to the mighty woodsman was a natural stop on our way back to North Dakota.