The discovery of coal in New River Gorge brought change to the region as many people sought to buy and run mines in the coalfields of the New River. The first person to ship coal from the new coalfields was a man named Joseph Beury.
Early Life
Joseph Beury was born in 1842 to a coal operator in Pennsylvania. During his childhood, he learned the trade of mining in his father's anthracite coal mines. Before he had finished his basic school education, the Civil War began. Beury enlisted in the United States Army as a member of the Pennsylvania Regiment. His service as a private for the Union led to his promotion to captaincy and the military title of Colonel.
Coal Operator in West Virginia
After the Civil War ended, Beury moved to West Virginia along Laurel Creek. The Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in New River Gorge was almost finished and Beury wanted to be ready. In 1872, he established the town of Quinnimont and opened the New River Coal Company mine. When the railroad opened in 1873, Quinnimont already had coal ready for shipping. That same year, Beury became the first coal owner to ship "New River Smokeless Coal" to the world.
Colonel Beury's mine at Quinnimont thrived. As business boomed, he expanded his business with several more mines in the New River Gorge. Over time, Beury's expansion reached into the Pocahontas coal fields. With this expansion, he became one of the largest coal company operators in West Virginia.
Following his successes, Colonel Beury chose to live in the New River Gorge. He built his home in the mining town of Beury, named for him, near the railroad town of Thurmond. This "mansion" had twenty-three rooms with a greenhouse, swimming pool, and stables. Beury continued to live in his mansion until he passed away in 1903 at the age of sixty-one.
Plaque on the Beury Monument in Quinnimont
NPS
Legacy
In the 1920s, Colonel Beury's coal operator associates wanted to honor him and the influence he had on mining in New River Gorge. They erected a twenty-five foot tall granite monument at Quinnimont, his first mine. The inscription on the monument reads:
The first New River smokeless coal was mined and shipped from Fire creek Seam at Quinnimont by Joseph Lawton Beury in 1873. This memorial erected by his coal associates in New River District.
Although it is not well known, the monument still stands as a testament to one of the great men of the coal mining era. Visitors today can visit the Quinnimont monument to remember the first coal operator in New River Gorge.
