This week on our spotlight on Arts culture and lifestyle…a look back at a Canadian legend.
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Many Americans and plenty of Canadians too, will know of the children’s storybooks telling the tale of the mythical American lumbejack Paul Bunyan.
A giant, his companion was an equally enormous blue ox. These stories had their origin as an advertising campaign, and then as childrens story books in the US around the turn of the last century
What is interesting is that this well-known mythical American character is likely based on the tales of some big lumberjacks in Canada, at least one of whom was an actual person.
There are tales of a big strong lumberjack in Quebec based on the name Paul Bonjean, and also on another lumberjack, Joseph Montferrand, roughly pronounced Mufferaw by some English speakers.
Big Joe was legendary for his size , strength and athletic prowess.
Born in Montreal in 1802, he spent much of his life in the Ottawa valley in the area around Mattawa, but also worked in as a lumberjack in the US, possibly where further tales of his prowess were spread among the many lumbercamps. Perhaps it was these tales that led the writers in the US to create the mythological Paul Bunyan.
In any case, the artist Clermont Duval in Mattawa has created a giant statue to the giant man known as Big Joe Mufferaw.
In a moment, an encore broadcast of my conversation with the artist and carver, Clermont Duval, but first we here a bit of music from the late Stompin Tom Connors and his tribute to Joseph Montferrand
the late Stompin Tom performs “Big Jo Mufferaw” in 2005
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