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I discovered in my local
newspaper what is probably the world's biggest pen. It was hiding in
Vancouver, Washington's Central Park, disguised as a tower for Clark
College. The land it sits on was originally part of Fort
Vancouver. The U.S. Army handed over the land for civilian use in
the 30's but was unable to move the object.
From my research, I have
discovered that this pen was made by the L.E. Waterman company for Paul
Bunyan. It is composed of red mottled hard brick and is a modified
eye dropper fill (a modified tanker truck is used to fill it), with a
unique three-tined nib made from steel. The original nib was 14K
gold, but Paul wore that one out real quick. The nib inscription
reads, "Waterman Ideal N.Y. 100" and is a stiff BBBBBBBBBBB.
It is reported to be the only #2000 ever made. The overall length of
the pen is hard to determine, as an unknown portion is buried in the
ground. The story I found related that Paul was asked to go over to
Germany to "see what that Hitler fella was up to," but when told
he'd have to travel as cargo in the hold of a cargo ship, he took his
mighty pen, wrote "Hell, no, I won't go" in the Florida,
creating the swamp lands, and gave the pen a might heave. It landed
where it sits today, in the Pacific Northwest.
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