Creation of City’s Paul and Babe
By N.E. Given
In the early fall of 1937, the Paul Bunyan Carnival was organized with Hector Brown in charge of it. The various organizations in town were requested to take over certain parts of the program.
Mr. Cyril Dickenson of the Dickenson Construction Co., was delegated to build Paul Bunyan. Mr. Earl Bucklen, our Mayor at that time, was used as a model and all measurements were scaled up four to one. This was built late enough in the fall so that it was necessary to keep the statue covered with canvas while the cement was hardening.
In order to get some idea of the labor and material going into Paul’s construction, Mr. Dickenson furnished the following list: Concrete footings to water level, 5 1/2 ton; Weight of statue above footing, 2 1/2 ton; Height of statue, 18 feet. Built in winter of 1937, using 737 man hours of time.
The statue is of some wood frame work above the footings over which reinforcing bars were formed to outline the statue, placing heavy steel lathe over the reinforcing bars to which cement stucco was applied. In some places the cement over the metal lathe would be several inches thick, thus making a reinforced structure of the whole statue. The reinforcing of the footings is the heavy steel continuing up through the legs of the statue. This of itself was intended to be reinforced in such a manner as to withstand quite a high velocity of wind. The statue was painted at that time, and has been kept in a very satisfactory condition ever since.
The Rotary Club of Bemidji was asked to build the Ox and Mr. Newell Johnson, now our state insurance commissioner, was appointed to be chairman of the committee and Mr. Johnson delegated the job to Mr. Jim Peyton. The Government, at Headwaters Camp, owned a large pair of oxen, and the largest of these was used as a model and measurements were taken as well as pictures and the detailed drawings were made scaling the ox the same as Paul Bunyan with a four to one.
These were followed in detail with the exception of the distance between the front legs. These were widened in order to permit a truck to operate under it. The ox was built with a skeleton of wooden ribs sawed and nailed together on a circular saw at the plant of the Boat Company here, and Mr. Johnson of the Boat Co. was in charge of the assembly. After the rough structure of wood had been made, this was covered with a cover of wire lathe. On top of this was stretched a padding of fiber wool as used in insulating refrigerators. Over this was stretched canvas. A smoke pipe was built into the nostrils and back thru the body which was connected by flexible hose to the exhaust of the motor, which created the impression that the ox was breathing in cold weather and also created a bellowing noise when the motor accelerated.
The eyes were made of automobile tail lights and connected to the battery. The horns were made of tin and are fourteen feet across. After completion the ox was mounted on a 1 1/2 ton International Truck.
The first winter during the carnival, the ox was used to pull large sleds and several trips out to the golf course. The next year the ox was taken to the St. Paul Winter Carnival. It had to be preceded by the Highway Patrol and in many cases the wires had to be raised to permit passage. During the next year and a half, it also made trips to Duluth, Crookston and another trip to the St. Paul Carnival.
Each trip, of course, did considerable damage to the canvas covering and, due to its size, it could not be kept inside and the damage from the wind and freezing made the upkeep very expensive while kept on the truck. Due to the expense it was decided to place the ox on a permanent foundation down near the lake. This was done by removing the canvas and padding and placing plaster and concrete over the metal lathe. After this permanent settling was made, there was an investment in the ox about $1370.
Mr. Harry Roese of Shorecrest has a Technicolor moving picture of the parade of the ox during the first winter carnival which I believe is the only photographic record outside of some small camera shots taken of it on top of the truck when it could be moved. (Written by N. E. Given and published in the Bemidji Daily Pioneer, June 30, 1971).
The movie footage is now at the Beltrami County History Center.