Barrum - [Fearsome Critter 🇨🇦]

Barrum - [Fearsome Critter] - (Latin: Lithobates Catesbeianus Gigas) - AKA: 'Barrum The Frog', 'Grand Jos, Gros Crapaud', "Ontario Valley Giant Bullfrogs." 

 • About this Critter: A gigantic spotted Bullfrog which was said to be mounted by a particularly famous French-Canadian Lumberjack from Mattawa, Ontario. - The tall tale of 'Barrum, Grand Jos pet frog' often goes something a bit like as follows: 

"One day Grand Jos was wandering through the Old Ontario woods up towards Conroys Marsh when he noticed that his giant white moose, Broadaxe had gotten himself stuck in the bog! Jos came to the rescue but it was very hard work to pull a moose outta there. The sweat from Jos brow flooded that bog & today it is known as Norway Lake. The next year, the frogs in that lake grew to be nearly the size of beavers! Jos rescued one of em and named it "Barrum" - It is said that Barrum lived for 25 years and grew even larger, measuring over 20 feet in length! (About the size of a ships container, certainly bigger than a horse.) The frog could sing in seven tongues, it barked like a dog and run over 100 miles at a stretch with Joe up on its back! Its diet consisted of big black flies which had to be imported from South America, until Jos managed to get the frog addicted to eating catfish stew (Easily fished out of the Chats Lake) he also trained Barrum to be a sentry, a "guard frog" for his camp in the summertime. – Legend has it that when the poor frog finally "croaked" the poor Barrum met his untimely demise during a collision with a train in Smiths Falls on the Kick and Push line from Eganville – The engineer said that everything went black in the cabin of the engine when they smashed into the frog; There was frog scattered over the railroad for a half a mile! it was horrible! They had to use a chain saw to cut off the poor things legs (As they where blocking the tracks & too heavy to move.) the engineer decided to try some but the frog was so tough that when he cooked the leg steak, he couldn't even get a fork into the gravy! – Never the less, the steak fed the entire station for years! - When asked about it; Jos heartily laughed and a deep sigh "...Well, he was a very tough frog..."

• History: Barrum is one of several mythical animals included in French-Canadian Tall tales and Ottawa valley folklore; namely to do with Mattawa Ontario's Legendary Gigantic Lumberjack 'Grand Jos' or 'Big Joe.' The Tall tales & stories of which honoured the very real French-Canadian Hero, lumberjack and strongman; Joseph Montferrand. (1802-1864) The actual man worked as boss timber cruiser in the area for decades, he was also an outstanding boxer, strongman & athlete. - So much so; that his name became synonymous with toughness & strength to a point where calling someone a 'Jos Montferrand" became for a time, a well known expression and way to call someone 'a manly man.' - Naturally over time oral tales about Big Joe where embellished & spread. - In the french speaking communities Montferrand is better known as a hero to the local French-Canadian people. But in Anglo English speaking communities, Jos' name became skewed and became more popularly known as "Big Joe Mufferaw" - From the late 60s til the early 90's Tale-Spinner Bernie Vance Bedore (1923-2008) wrote 3 books, compiling various "Joe Mufferaw" lore & Tall tales from the valley. (He also sang some 'Traditional Ottowa Valley Songs' which where also put to record in 1983, including one about big joe himself! - [listen to them here!]) - Bedore famously toured around schools and spread the 'mufferaw' lore along with his own “valley mythology.” - At the time, his stories proved to be so popular that it almost lead to a 1890s sawmill themed "timber-town theme park' which ultimately failed in 1987! - [Weather its good news or sad news that we Canadians didn't get our own version of "Paul Bunyan land” I'll leave up to my readers to decide.] - Rather unfortunately, Bedores books seem to be out of print are quite rare as such are a bit difficult to get a hold of these days! – However, Big Joe & Barrums legend lives on popularly in the song "Big Joe Mufferaw" by beloved folksinger, Stompin' Tom Connors. [Though Toms probably better known for the canadian hockey song & bud the spud!]

[cover of tall tales of "joe mufferaw 1979"] 

[Bendore telling a Big Joe tale to school kids in the 1980's]

Also worth note is that 'Big Joe Mufferaw' is in fact rather frequently mentioned & included in several various early Paul Bunyan stories & legends as early as 1922! - (Typically the two are 'friendly rivals'; occasionally, Joe is said to work for Paul, but, details of course change a lot between the many authors stories.)

An official stamp commemorating "Big Joe Montferrand" was printed in 1992. & In 2009, the Ontario Heritage Trust recognized Montferrand as a person of provincial historical significance and unveiled a plaque at the former St. Brigid’s Church. Today 'Grand Jos' has beenl the mascot for the Ottowa RedBacks since 2014 (though his name was change from mufferaw due to backlash!) doesnt stop the occasional Mufferaw festival from popping up & theres also a Canadian Vodka brand that uses the "Mufferaw" name as well. Various gigantic wooden carved statues of the man have been erected over the years (perhaps most famous are the wooden ones (the latest Carved in 2005) which are kept outside of the Mattawa museum they're a a key part of their heritage tour!  

[clipping from their brouchure.]

[Joe and barrum as seen on the album cover from 1983.]

Now that you know the 'in a nutshell' history of BIg Joe. – Back to the main topic of Today's post: Barrum – his pet frog. who rather adorably seems to be named after the sound of a Bullfrogs deep mating croak: "Barrum-barrum" - Very few tales have been recorded about Joe and this frog over the years. The main one which I re-told at the top of this post is the most popular & was popularly shared in various newspapers the story is usually accredited to Bernie. – [Some news clippings and examples further down!] As said today, Most are of course are aware of Mufferaws 'big pet frog' from the brief line in Stompin' Toms famous song about mufferaw's exploits.

[Clipping from an article that ran in 1966.] 

At face value, Barrum is indeed a cute frog sidekick which joe rides around on, that much is for certain, But fewer have heard or discussed the original stories (as the story rarely ever gets elaborated on, shared or seriously discussed beyond those few famous lines.) –  Most of the stories about Barrum tend to end with the poor frogs death upon the train tracks & how tough his meat was to chew on after he died! (ironically the K & P railway is infamously really slow. Part of the joke.) 

...That said, its also important to also acknowledge the fact Barrum is a 'Giant froggy' which was owned by a french-canadian man; (and i really hate to be the one to point this out, but as a folklorist; I also feel that its important to at least make note of prejudices when you smell 'em) - it seems to be a punny-nod towards the ethnic slur/insult; "Froggy."  Which was often used as a xenophobic pejorative, to insult or dehumanize the French! (Simply because the french eat frog legs. which are delicious if prepared correctly!) in other words; not smashed across a train track like in the story.) - Now, i'd like to say - I'm mentioning this here; mostly because the lore, stories & history books about the actual Joe Montferrand often detail a particular bar-fight/boxing match between him and a group of rowdy English sailors, who of course; called him a "Canadian-Frog."  Of course, In the end, the Legendary French-Canadian shows em what for and comes out on top!  

[the big fight illustrated, "Joe, beats the livin' tar outta 29 men!" of course, the story about him leaving a boot mark on the roof story is allegedly true too]

This bit about Barrums origin seems to have largely gone unnoticed by the public at large. So, I digress, If Barrum was created with the 'Froggy' slur in mind, it was surely done in the manner of a joke, rather than to bring intentional dismay or to cause offence. - Notably, its difficult (though admittedly perhaps not impossible.) to say with 110% certainty who first spoke of 'Big joes pet frog.' first! (There's a slight chance that 'the big pet frog' existed nameless prior to Bernies books considering that bernie took a lot of his fodder from older folks as well as seeing how Mufferaw does get mentioned along side some of the earliest Paul Bunyan lore.- The Big frog is to Grand Jos, As the Big Blue Ox is to Ol'Paul! (And He is a BULL-FROG afterall!)

[The cover of Bernies "mythical mufferaw 1994"; featuring some of Joes other giant pets.] 

To say the least; Joe is indeed a mostly unknown (yet still beloved) folk character, their lore and stories aren't really shared as much (or at all) among young canadian folk these days. – (At least, personally speaking from where I'm at, as far East as you can get whilst still being in Canada, Vancouver.) most of  on the east coast know Bunyan better. Unlike Paul Bunyan and his contemporaries which have been written about time and time again Searching 'Big Joe Mufferaw' online yields very little talk about the legends and lore and as such aside from a few articles which are mainly long textbook descriptions about the 'real man' behind the legend (which are interesting, but perhaps not as engaging) As said, Bernies books themselves are sadly a rarity these days (as far as I'm aware nobody's even tried to archive 'em online) – As a result Barrums legend lives on today as barely a footnote in Canadian lore. As i've said 3 times already, "big joes pet frog" is most popularly known today because of 'Stompin' Tom Connors 1970s song about the giants exploits. – A fun fact about that which many probably don't realize is that there's also a french lyrical version of the song that was written by Tom's French-Canadian co-writer Gaëtan Lépin in 1973! (it was only properly recorded very recently in 2022 by Whiskyjack!) - Joe's Pet frog is of course mentioned in both versions; but the french lyrics version of course rather appropriately, changes 'Mufferaw' to 'Montferraud' & Barrum from a frog into a 'Gros Crapaud' (Big Toad) instead!

"Now they say Big Joe had an old pet frog
Bigger than a horse and he barked like a dog
And the only thing quicker than a train upon a track
Was Big Joe ridin' on the bullfrog's back!"

"Ils disent que Jos avait un gros crapaud Plus gros qu’un ch’val et il sautait très haut. Et la seule chose sur terre,  Plus vite qu’un poisson dans l’eau, C’était Jos à ch’val sur le dos d’son crapaud!"

[1963 story about barrum and broadaxe] 

Finally; On the note of parallel stories, rather interestingly: Barrum is seemingly not the only folkloric giant frog from Western Canada who's life ended in an explosion! The Coleman frog from New Brunswick's Fredrickson museum, is a taxidermy that claims that this large (42lb) frog infamously died in an alleged TNT related accident. - I wonder this is a simple coincidence or if there's any connection between these two? Either way, It's weird that it happened twice.

Maybe i'll draw a sticker for big joe himself another time!

[Article & Sticker art by @samkalensky part of my fearsome critters collection of Stickers & Canadian/American folklore.- if you enjoyed this deep dive, please consider supporting my patreon for more!]