Chesapeake and Ohio Railway

One is the West Virginia theory.

That said that, yes, he did compete against this steel drill at the Big Bend Tunnel that was through a mountain for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad.

And it was in this town near Talcott, West Virginia.

tunnel was a mile long and apparently like i said there was this competition and in 1929 there was this researcher guy ben johnson he published a book it was called john henry tracking down a negro legend and he interviewed lots of people he collected different songs and yeah he investigated everything he concluded that there was a real john henry he probably worked there He competed against the steel drill, and yeah, he died shortly afterward.

And the bottom line is, during this time, Virginia... basically leased out prisoners to these railroad companies that built the railroad.

So these men were prisoners and they were forced to work on the railroad.

So he connected John William Henry to the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and he didn't identify the Big Bend Tunnel, but rather the Lewis Tunnel in Virginia.

as this location where they actually had the contest and yes steam powered drills were there at the lewis tunnel unlike big ben so this is where this theory has developed more recently Now, before we get into the story, I want to touch on his, talk about his legendary character.

which lets, you know, we all know it's very fraught, a lot of pain and trauma, but at the same point in time, it's necessary to talk about that part of our history.

One of the reasons I was attracted to your books and to your work is that my great-grandfather on my mother's side was an African-American cook for the C&O Railroad in Cumberland, Maryland.

Wow.

So he comes, in fact, I still have some of his meat saw and cleaver from the old days.

Um, little, little bit of history here.

Um, now- 'Cause these places, you're like, "How the hell did people decide to live in the middle of nowhere?" Apparently, the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, um, it came through the gorge in 1873 and unlocked the New River coalfield.

Yeah.

So that's why.