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Tall Tales Team 2

     John Henry was born to pound steel. They say that on the night he was born, he smiled so wide that the sky could see it. Much to everyone’s surprise, he was born with a hammer in his hand. He was already as strong as some grown men and grew stronger every day.

By the age of six, he was working with his family on the railroad, carrying rocks. At age 10, he was pounding steel. This means that he worked with someone else who would hold a spike and John would hit it with his hammer until it sunk down into the ground, holding the railroad rails tightly.

     Eventually he got married and had a son, Little Johnny. His wife was a steel pounder too. At noon, when John would take a break for lunch, she would take over for him on the rail.

John Henry is most famous for his race against the steam engine. Working on the railroad was hard, and the steam engine was created to do the work of a man in half the time. John Henry thought of all his friends working on the railroad, and how they would lose their jobs if the machines took over. So, he accepted the challenge to race the steam engine. Halfway through, the steam engine broke down and had to be dragged out of the tunnel they were working in. But not even that made John Henry stop. He kept swinging and pounding and swinging and pounding until he couldn’t anymore. His big heart gave out, and he died like he was born, with a hammer in his hand.​

  1. In the famous battle against the steam engine, John Henry swung two hammers. In total, he pounded 28 spikes. How many spikes did each hammer pound?

  2. John Henry could do the work of 24 men in a day. If he worked for 10 days, how many men did he do the work of?

  3. John Henry used 36 hammers handles for one section of track. If he used 23 in another section, how many handles did he use total?

  4. In one day, John Henry laid 516 feet of track. The rest of the team laid 97. How many feet of track did they lay altogether?

  5. John Henry started working for the railroad by carrying rocks at age 6. He started hammering at age 10. How many years did he carry rocks for?

  6. The steam engine that John Henry raced against was able to do the work of 12 men. John Henry was able to do the work of 24 men. How many more men could John Henry do the work for, compared to the steam engine?

  7. Use the chart below about the race between John Henry and the Steam engine to answer the following questions.

  • Who was farther ahead after 10 minutes? By how many feet?

  • Who was farther ahead after 30 minutes? By how many feet?

  • John Henry laid 5 feet of track in the first 10 minutes. How many feet left of track did he have to lay if the total amount of feet to be laid was 4,876?

  • How many feet of track did the steam engine lay between the 10-minute mark and the 60-minute mark?

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