Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack in American folklore who has long been the hero of the American logging camps. His exploits, which revolved around the tall tales of his superhuman labors, were told by the fires of bunkhouses in the northern camps from Wisconsin to Maine, from Minnesota to Oregon, to Washington and California for decades. Customarily accompanied by Babe, the Blue Ox, his character originated in the oral traditions of North American loggers, and at one time, all lumberjacks believed or pretended to believe, that this great man really lived and was the pioneer in the lumber country. Some of the older men even claimed to have known him or members of his crew. His supposed grave is even marked in Kelliher, Minnesota.

Source: Legends of America