Archives West Finding Aid

James L. Stevens (1892-1971), author of Paul Bunyan (1925), was born in Iowa and spent his early years there, first on a farm with his mother, and then in the town of Moravia with his maternal grandmother. At thirteen, he moved to southwestern Idaho to live with his father, who had homesteaded there after leaving his family before James was born. His formal education in public and industrial schools ended with the eighth grade, when he left the Weiser area on a freight train. He worked as a casual laborer in various parts of Idaho, moving from place to place on freight trains, and continued his education independently in public libraries.

During his military service with the Oregon National Guard in Europe during World War I, Stevens, who had been writing since he was very young, began publishing stories in Stars and Stripes. When his military service was completed he returned to Oregon and his former work as a laborer. He continued to write, publishing some of his work in national periodicals including the Saturday Evening Post and H. L. Mencken's American Mercury.

His first and best-known book, Paul Bunyan, a collection of "tall tales" about the legendary North American woodsman, was published by A. A. Knopf in 1925. After this early success, he regularly wrote and published stories, articles, and reviews in magazines and newspapers, and produced several more books, including Brawnyman (1926), Mattock (1927), Homer in the Sagebrush (1928), Saginaw Paul Bunyan (1932), Timber (1942), and Big Jim Turner (1948).

From 1937 to 1957, Stevens was public relations director for the West Coast Lumbermen's Association. While there, he helped initiate the "Keep Washington Green" program.

SOURCES CONSULTED:

Maguire, James H. James Stevens. Boise: Boise State University, 2005.

Clare, Warren L. "Big Jim Stevens: A Study in Pacific Northwest Literature." Ph.D. diss., Washington State University, 1967.