Big Bend Tunnel

Summers County · W. Va. 3 between Hinton and Alderson. · location approximate

The great tunnel of the C. & O. Railroad was started at Big Bend in 1870 and completed three years later. It is more than a mile long, and now has a twin tunnel. Tradition makes this the scene of the steel drivers' ballad, "John Henry."

1937 text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native and Black people, and tells frontier history from the settler's side.

Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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Marker data: State Road Commission of West Virginia, West Virginia Historic and Scenic Highway Markers (1937), text by Ross B. Johnston

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