Round River Drive

DESCRIPTION: Recitation; multiple stories of Paul Bunyan
AUTHOR: original probably by James McGillivray; re-versified by Douglas Malloch
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Detroit Evening News, according to Beck-TheyKnewPaulBunyan and Wyman)
KEYWORDS: lumbering talltale humorous logger work recitation
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Beck-SongsOfTheMichiganLumberjacks 95, "Round River Drive" (1 text)
Beck-TheyKnewPaulBunyan, pp. 76-88, "Round River Drive" (1 text)
Beck-LoreOfTheLumberCamps 46, "Round River Drive" (1 text)
Greenway-FolkloreOfTheGreatWest, pp. 353-354, "(Round River Drive)" (1 excerpt with background notes; the book includes several short Paul Bunyan articles)
ADDITIONAL: Robert E. Gard and L. G. Sorden, _Wisconsin Lore: Antics and Anecdotes of Wisconsin People and Places_, Wisconsin House, 1962, pp. 77-80, "Round River Drive" (1 text, from Gene Shepard)
Daniel Hoffman, _Paul Bunyan: Last of the Frontier Demigods_, 1952; Bison Books edition with a new Introduction by the author 1983, pp. 37-38, "[Round River Drive]" (a short prose version from Perry Allen of Michigan summarizing the longer poem)
Roud #6523
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Paul Bunyan" (subject) and references there
NOTES [75 words]: This is an encyclopedic collection of Bunyan tales, which despite its length made it into oral tradition. Paul Bunyan is sometimes derided as a phony folk-hero, and he's certainly been heavily commercialized, but Beck makes clear that these were genuine folk tales.- PJS
The story is in fact quite a bit more complicated than that; see the notes to "Paul Bunyan." It is very likely that this is the source, not the result, of the Bunyan legend. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: Be095

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