Despite all this, the contract is cancelled by the amoral business owner and the workers' place is taken by a steam drill.

John refuses to back down and proves that man can achieve more than a machine by challenging the steam drill driver to a race for who can finish the railroad first.

He builds the railway and even a tunnel straight through a mountain, the steam drill breaking before it can finish.

Realizing he won't live much longer, Polly gently places John's hammer in his hand before he dies with a smile on his face.

The child is scared by some thunder, but Polly tells him that it's just the sound of his father, hammering in the sky.