Long before Marvel comics and their several versions of rebirth, a crop of folk heroes existed, with stories that originated in the oral tradition, at least so it seems to me.  And was the Paul Bunyan legend based on Saginaw Joe Fournier?

No matter.  Here’s the first workboat I can recall aptly named for one.  The paint may be scuffed,

the name boards in need of rehab, but

she looks ready to break out of the ice and lift some gates.  By Great Lakes standards, she’s not even that old, it seems, launched in Muskegon in 1944.  Has she been repowered?  She’s a barge, so the power would be only for the derrick machinery.

With the Soo Locks closed now and drained, it’s possible she’s hard at work lifting gates as needed.  Click here for another another and photos about the January 2019 closure of the locks.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.