author

William B. Laughead

1882–1958

Best remembered for helping bring Paul Bunyan to a wide popular audience, this logger-turned-advertising writer mixed frontier folklore with company storytelling. His lively pamphlets and illustrations helped shape the giant lumberjack as generations of readers came to know him.

2 Audiobooks

The Marvelous Exploits of Paul Bunyan As Told in the Camps of the White Pine Lumbermen for Generations During Which Time the Loggers Have Pioneered the Way Through the North Woods From Maine to California. Collected from Various Sources and Embellished for Publication

The Marvelous Exploits of Paul Bunyan As Told in the Camps of the White Pine Lumbermen for Generations During Which Time the Loggers Have Pioneered the Way Through the North Woods From Maine to California. Collected from Various Sources and Embellished for Publication

by William B. Laughead

The Marvelous Exploits of Paul Bunyan As Told in the Camps of the White Pine Lumbermen for Generations During Which Time the Loggers Have Pioneered the Way Through the North Woods from Maine to California; Collected from Various Sources and Embellished for Publication

The Marvelous Exploits of Paul Bunyan As Told in the Camps of the White Pine Lumbermen for Generations During Which Time the Loggers Have Pioneered the Way Through the North Woods from Maine to California; Collected from Various Sources and Embellished for Publication

by William B. Laughead

About the author

William B. Laughead was an American logger, advertising manager, and amateur artist whose name is closely tied to the popular rise of Paul Bunyan. Sources consistently describe him as working for the Red River Lumber Company and writing promotional pamphlets that introduced the giant lumberjack to a much broader audience.

He is especially associated with The Marvelous Exploits of Paul Bunyan, a work credited to him as both writer and illustrator. Reference sources also note that his series of Paul Bunyan pamphlets appeared across the early-to-mid 20th century and played a major role in turning campfire folklore into a nationally familiar legend.

Laughead’s appeal today comes from that unusual mix of occupations: he knew the lumber world firsthand, yet he also had the instincts of a storyteller and promoter. For readers interested in American folklore, tall tales, and the way legends are shaped for popular audiences, his work remains an important piece of the Paul Bunyan story.