CP's line through the Spiral Tunnels...

[wjstix]

Bit off topic, but a RR researcher a year or two back announced he had traced the real John Henry to a prison graveyard in the South. The key he said was the odd line "they carried John Henry to the White House, and they buried him in the sand". Well he uncovered one Southern prison that had white (limestone maybe?) walls that was called "The White House" by prisoners and locals alike. There was a prison graveyard across the tracks that ran next to the prison, and he did confirm that the prison leased out prisoners to railroads for use in construction including a tunnel not too far from the prison.

http://www.msjohnhurtmuseum.com/apps/forums/1335/ShowPost.aspx

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Stix -

Hey, thanks for that !  The researcher is Dr. Scott Nelson, Associate Professor of History at the College of William & Mary, and he published a book on it: 

Steel Drivin' Man

John Henry: the Untold Story of an American Legend

Scott Reynolds Nelson

Oxford University Press, August 2006

ISBN13: 9780195300109

ISBN10: 0195300106

hardback, 224 pages

 

Dr. Nelson evidently contends that this contest occurred at the Lewis Tunnel in Virginia on the C&O line from Richmond to the Ohio River, though most accounts refer to the apparently nearby Big Bend Tunnel, which he says is just over the border in West Virginia; I can't quickly find a good location reference for either of them.  Tthe statue of John Henry is some distance away from either, at Talcott, West Virginia, which can be located easily enough.

 

The interview that you linked to (above) can also be found as "John Henry - Proof that he was more than a mythical construction?" at:

 

http://www.ibiblio.org/john_henry/nelson.html

However, I did a little more research (dare I say "drilled down" ?) and found that another professor claims that the real John Henry was at Coosa Mountain and/or Oak Mountain tunnels, on the Columbus & Western RR about 15 miles east of Birmingham, in Alabama.  See:

"Chasing John Henry in Alabama and Mississippi", by Dr. John Garst, Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, at:

http://www.ibiblio.org/john_henry/alabama.html

and "Dr. Garst Responds to Dr. Nelson's new book" at: 

http://www.ibiblio.org/john_henry/garst2.html 

That web site is not well organized or linked internally - here's the best single page for it: http://www.ibiblio.org/john_henry/index.html 

So we'll just have to choose and believe whichever version we like the best, I suppose.

 Thanks again.

- Paul North.

 

 

 

[Deggesty]

tatans

If you go to the tunnel, make sure you memorize the maps above, as the lookoff will give you no idea what is going on, The vantage point is different than the diagram. It is hard to fathom the tunnel system by looking at a bunch of trees and a big bunch of large mountains. This brings back a few memories of going through the tunnel behind steam on old coaches and opening the windows on the car, hey, we were air cadets on our way to summer camp at Abbotsford B.C.

Yes. We were going west when I first stopped, and I simply knew that I could see the two portals of one tunnel. We went on west until we saw freight going east, and I turned around so I could go back and photograph the train as it went into and out of the tunnel. Seeing it going in and coming out, I could tell what was what.

Johnny

[Bruce Kelly]

The roadside viewing point has a scale model and graphic displays to help you figure out where the tracks and tunnels are in relation to the viewing point. Very helpful since the trees have crowded out most of the classic views you once had from there.