Three Rivers Historical Museum Paul Bunyan

Visitors to the Three Rivers Historical Museum meet Paul Bunyan before they reach the door. The Tulare County Treasures Project says the huge statue, with his blue ox Babe, was carved out of a 22-ton sequoia log by local artist Carroll Barnes in 1941, and describes it as a reminder of the decades of industrial logging that led to the creation of the national forests and Sequoia National Park. A 2001 report in the Porterville Recorder gives the carving as 1941 and 1942 in Three Rivers and puts the statue at 18 feet tall and nearly 3 tons. It quotes a local historian as saying it was a Three Rivers landmark until 1956, when it was bought for a motel in Porterville, and it reports that in 2001 it was donated to the Three Rivers Historical Society and trucked home. A museum spokeswoman said then: 'We felt it belonged in Three Rivers anyway. That's where it came from.' A sign at its base once described a single redwood log, so accounts differ on the wood. The museum opened in October 2000 and is run by the Three Rivers Historical Society with volunteers. The Treasures guide lists the museum at 42268 Sierra Drive, with the statue out front, and notes that nearby you can walk its 1,600-foot Heritage Trail.