John Henry and the Steam Drill

John Henry was a steel-driving man. He worked on the C & O railroad.

He spent his day driving steel spikes into the new train tracks. He was the strongest man on the crew and his name was known across the country.

One day, John Henry’s crew was building a new track near Big Bend Mountain. As they worked a salesman arrived. He wanted the boss to buy his new machine, the steam drill.

“My steam drill can do the work of twelve men in one day!” the salesman said.

John Henry knew that if the boss bought the steam drill, all the men in the crew would lose their jobs. He spoke up.

“I am the best steel-driver in the country,” John Henry said. “I can beat that machine any day.”