Editing Paul Bunyan (section)

=== Debated authenticity ===
[[File:Fabian_Fournier.jpg|thumb|Fournier in 1865]]
Commentators such as Carleton C. Ames, Marshall Fitwick, and particularly [[Richard Dorson]] cite Paul Bunyan as an example of "[[fakelore]]", a literary invention passed off as an older folktale. They point out that the majority of books about Paul Bunyan are composed almost entirely of elements with no basis in folklore, especially those targeted at juvenile audiences. Modern commercial writers are credited with setting Paul Bunyan on his rise to a nationally recognized figure, but this ignores the historical roots of the character in logging camps and forest industries.<ref name="hartly" />

At the same time, several authors have come forward to propose that the legend of Paul Bunyan was based on a real person. D. Laurence Rogers and others have suggested a possible connection between Paul Bunyan tales and the exploits of French-Canadian lumberjack [[Fabian Fournier|Fabian "Saginaw Joe" Fournier]] (1845–1875).<ref>{{cite web | author=MMCC | title=MyBayCity.com Bay City's Roots in the Paul Bunyan Tales To Be Subject of Documentary Film | website=MyBayCity.com Click Here | date=July 21, 2004 | url=http://www.mybaycity.com/scripts/p3_v2/P3V3-0200.cfm?P3_ArticleID=497 | access-date=November 23, 2020}}</ref> From 1865 to 1875, Fournier worked for the H. M. Loud Company in the [[Grayling, Michigan]], area.<ref name="edmonds" /> James Stevens in his 1925 book ''Paul Bunyan'' makes another unverified claim that Paul Bunyan was a soldier in the [[Papineau Rebellion]] named Paul Bon Jean,<ref name="steven">{{Citation|last1 = Stevens|first1 = James|last2 = Lewis|first2 = Allen|year = 1925|title = Paul Bunyan|publisher = A. A. Knopf|place = New York}}</ref> and this is occasionally repeated in other accounts.

Stewart and Watt acknowledge that they have not yet succeeded in definitively finding out whether Bunyan was based on an actual person or was wholly mythical. They have noted, however, that some of the older lumberjacks whom they interviewed claimed to have known him or members of his crew, and the supposed location of his grave was actually pointed out in northern Minnesota.<ref name="stewart" /> Bunyan's extreme gigantism was a later invention, and early stories either do not mention it or, as in the Stewart and Watt paper, refer to him as being about seven feet tall.

Included in this section is a comparison chart between early Paul Bunyan references, the Stewart and Watt paper, and the Laughead advertisement.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Overlap of early Paul Bunyan Preprintings
!
! Duluth News<ref name="duluth" />
! Rockwell<ref name="rockwell" />
! MacGillivray<ref name="macgillivray" />
! Harrigan<ref name="harrigan" />
! Stewart & Watt<ref name="stewart" />
! Laughead<ref name="laughead" />
|-
| align="left" | Stove Skating
| {{y}}
| {{y}}
| {{y}}
| {{y}}
| {{y}}
| {{y}}
|-
| align="left" | Pea Soup Lake
| {{n}}
| {{Check mark|15|color=yellow}}{{efn|In Rockwell's version it was beans and not peas that were spilled in the lake.}}
| {{y}}
| {{n}}
| {{y}}
| {{y}}
|-
| align="left" | Giant Camp
| {{y}}
| {{y}}
| {{n}}
| {{y}}
| {{n}}
| {{y}}
|-
| align="left" | Gigantism
| {{n}}
| {{y}}
| {{n}}
| {{n}}
| {{y}}
| {{Check mark|15|color=yellow}}{{efn|Rather than simply being abnormally tall, Paul Bunyan's height is increased beyond all possible human capacity.}}
|-
| align="left" | Winter of the Blue Snow
| {{y}}
| {{y}}
| {{n}}
| {{n}}
| {{y}}
| {{y}}
|-
| align="left" | Blue Ox
| {{n}}
| {{y}}
| {{n}}
| {{Check mark|15|color=yellow}}{{efn|In Harrigan's account Paul Bunyon [sic] is said to have a pink ox named "Old Brinny".}}
| {{y}}
| {{y}}
|-
| align="left" | Logging the Dakotas
| {{y}}
| {{y}}
| {{n}}
| {{n}}
| {{n}}
| {{y}}
|-
| align="left" | Creating Geography
| {{n}}
| {{n}}
| {{n}}
| {{n}}
| {{n}}
| {{y}}
|-
| colspan="7" style="text-align: left;" | {{notelist}}
|-
|}