As the story goes, John Henry was hired as a steel driver for the railroad. Later, the railroad company brought in a steam drill to speed up work on the tunnel. It was said that the steam drill could drill faster than any man. The challenge was on, man against machine. John Henry was known as the strongest, the fastest, and the most powerful man working on the railroad. He went up against the steam drill to prove that the black worker could drill a hole through the rock farther and faster than the drill could. Using two 10-pound hammers, one in each hand, he pounded the drill so fast and so hard that he drilled a 14- foot hole into the rock. The legend says that the drill was only able to drill nine feet. John Henry beat the steam drill but later died of exhaustion.

The Great Bend Tunnel was completed on September 12, 1872, and remained in service until 1974. The tunnel and the man have been cemented into the annals of time through The Ballad of John Henry. The song tells of a boy born with a hammer in his hand. It tells of a man who worked as a steel driver during the construction of the Great Bend Tunnel. It tells us that this man took a hammer in each hand to face down a steam-powered drilling machine. John Henry promised, If I can't beat this steam drill down, I'll die with this hammer in my hand! At the Great Bend Tunnel, John Henry became one of the world’s great folk heroes.