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And what a camp it was! Its dimensions were as outsized as its proprietor. With his trusty, oversized ax, and his trusty, oversized ox, the giant lumberjack could fell a dozen trees with a single swing, and found so much success in the logging industry he started his own camp. Babe could pull a crooked river straight and break up logjams by swishing his tail in the water. Babe weighed five thousand pounds and could work with the strength of ten horses. Along the way he found a companion that could match his brawny stature: a giant blue ox. When he came of age, Bunyan struck out on his own and headed west to become a logger.
#Johnny works on railroad story how to#
Raised in the backwoods of Maine, he learned early on how to hunt, fish, and fend for himself, and developed unrivaled strength and skill. This unusual boy grew up to be a one-of-a-kind man: seven feet tall with a seven-foot-long stride, Bunyan’s laugh could shake branches off trees and his pipe was so big its tobacco had to be packed in with a shovel.
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He was unusually large and unusually hungry - his parents had to milk two dozen cows to keep his bottles filled and spoon-feed him barrels full of cornmeal mush - and his face sported a most unusual feature for an infant: a full, bushy beard. His heart had been big enough to conquer the challenge, but ultimately too small to outlast the machine.Ī handful of steam drills soon replaced hundreds of steel-driving men, who scattered across the country, trying to make a living by cobbling together whatever kinds of work they could find.
Clutching his chest, Henry collapsed, and died with his fingers still wrapped around the handle of his hammer.
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Victory for the steel driver was short lived, however. Before I’ll be beat by that big steam drill, I’ll die with my hammer in my hand!” And on he’d soldier.Īfter nine hours, the holes the man and the machine had each respectively made were counted up, and Henry, who had made more, was declared the winner. Whenever his body grew weary, he’d shout, “A man ain’t nothing but a man. Henry pounded the steel until his hammer burned white hot, and had to be dipped into a bucket of water to cool. The local men, who’d seen Henry’s strength up close, put their money on the steel driver to come out on top.Īt first, the steam drill surged into the lead, but Henry put another giant hammer into his other hand, and soon began wailing at the steel with both arms, enabling him to pull ahead. The city folk were certain that machines represented the future, and that Henry had no chance. If he won, Henry and his gang would keep their jobs.Ī huge crowd gathered to watch the contest.
If he lost, his boss agreed to buy the machine. Henry couldn’t let that happen.īelieving his manpower was even stronger than the drill’s steam-power, he challenged the machine to a race. The drill would deprive them of a livelihood and the dignity that went with it. Henry immediately understood what the coming of this machine would mean for he and his fellow laborers they would all soon be out of work, their flesh and blood replaced by gears and grease. Unlike living men who have to eat and rest, the salesman crowed, the inanimate drill could run nearly non-stop. One day, a salesman approached the railroad boss pitching the purchase of a new steam drill he claimed could do the work of ten men. Henry’s strength and stamina in this arduous work surpassed that of any other man hour after hour, Henry would swing his hammer like lightning and make the steel sing so loud it could be heard hundreds of miles away. As a steel-driving man, he hammered spikes into the thick rock that stood in the way of soon-to-be-laid track, drilling holes that were then filled with dynamite and blasted open. The unusually large and strapping baby grew up to be an unusually large and powerful man 7 feet tall, his arms were as thick as tree trunks and his shoulders were so wide he had to walk sideways through doors.Īfter being freed from slavery, Henry began to work for the railroads, joining a tunnel-making gang in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia. John Henry was born with a hammer in his hand.
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