8. John Henry was a steel driving man
Another oversized man of great strength was railroad legend John Henry, who entered American folklore during the great railroad boom and may have been based on one or more real persons. John Henry could drive steel faster than any other mortal, and raced against a steam powered pile driver, beating the machine but dying of exhaustion at the moment of victory. The steel was not for the placing of rails, but for the drilling of holes in the rock which would then be filled with black powder, for the purpose of cutting the tunnels in the Appalachians through which the railroads would travel. Several sites claim to be the location of the race between John Henry and the machine, including in Virginia and Alabama, and several men have been suggested as being the basis for the African American steel driving man.
Although there have been several men identified as possibly the basis of John Henry and several sites claimed to have been where his legend was born, there is little evidence that the story has any basis in fact, other than several railroad workers, including convict labor, who bore the name or a similar one. The tale first appeared as a folk song of the type sung by laborers while at work, similar to the sea shanties sung by sailors as they went about their duties. Later, ballads romanticizing the tale told in the hammer songs appeared, and the legend of John Henry appeared in magazines and pamphlets, often for children. Whether and where John Henry lived and died is the subject of scholarly disagreement, but there is no doubt that he is a major part of American folklore.