Quinnimont
!!!!DANGER!!!
It is illegal in the state of West Virginia and the National Park Service to enter and or explore abandoned coal mines! They are not natural cave systems! They are a network of man made tunnels reaching miles underground, stretching in many different directions, full of hazards such as blackdamp, (air without breathable oxygen), methane gas, dangerous mine roof conditions and other life threatening hazards. They are extremely dangerous.
There were over 66 coal mining communities and towns located all along the New River Gorge area. There were many more dotted above the canyon rim and along the plateau above. Some of those towns still exist today, but of all the ones along the New River, only five are still sparsely occupied today.
Also to be noted among these towns, some were not built upon the mining of coal. The towns of Glade, Hamlet were actually logging towns. Thurmond was a town built entirely on the railroad but will be included in this listing because of its significance to the New River Gorge and its outlying coal communities.
Colonel Joseph Beury: Quinnimont, Beury and Laurel Creek
Colonel Joseph Beury was born in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, August 15th, 1842. He learned coal mining while working in his fathers anthracite coal mines while living in Pennsylvania. He soon joined the Union army and quickly advanced in rank, leaving the army with the command rank of Colonel.
Joseph Beury moved with his new wife, Julia, in 1872 to Fayette County, West Virginia. Here he established the coal town of Quinnimont. Knowing that the C&O railroad was soon to come by this track of coal rich land, Beury established the very first coal mine in the New River Gorge. The New River Coal Company was started and ready to ship the very first coal mined form the Gorge as soon as the railroad was completed in 1873. Quinnimont has been noted as being the very first coal mining town set up in the New River Gorge.
Beury didn’t just settle with this one particular area of the Gorge to mine in. He had been instrumental in opening the Fire Creek mine and stretching his mining reach as far north as Ansted and Mill Creek, later to be noted in this book. Beury was also noted as operating additional mine sites in the rich, Pocahontas Coal Field in Mercer and McDowell Counties as well. He remained a life long resident of the New River Gorge and lived in the small town north of Thurmond, aptly named,”Beury”, until his death at 12:45 Tuesday morning, June 2, 1903.
Joseph Beury photo source wvencyclopedia,org
News of the C&O Railroads plan to put a railroad through the New River Gorge opened it up to potential investors who sought to exploit the area for its virgin, old growth timber and vast coal resources.
Referencing the small town of Quinnimont would not be complete without documenting the hollow adjacent to the town called, Laurel Creek. At the mouth of Laurel Creek lie the remains of coke ovens once part of the first New River Coal Company mine. Laurel Creek has its own history of mining in the Gorge. Coal mines were operated up Laurel as far away as Layland, the site of one of the states worst mine disasters on March 11. 1915, killing 125 miners with only 53 surviving the explosion. A marble monument was placed to honor and remember the tragic deaths of these brave men.
Mining towns up and down Laurel Creek were such as, Layland, Greenwood, Hemlock, Lawton, Glendale and Export, all seemingly vanished as the years have slipped by. Each mine located here shipped coal down the steep Laurel Creek by a C&O spur meeting the mainline C&O in the town of Quinnimont. Today, as with all the mining in the region, none are left in production. It is fair to mention that the New River Gorge Park boundaries end possibly two miles up Laurel and the towns mentioned here are not a current part of the park system. Not very many occupied homes are even part of this region, residents long since moved away. Remnants of houses, mine buildings, shops, old public schools and rail bridges are basically all that are left of the former industrial glory of Laurel Creek. Perhaps, at a later date, these coal mining communities may also be added to this site.
Quinnimont, latin meaning, “five mountains” was established by Colonel Beury in 1872. However, the history behind Joseph Beury and his settlement of Quinnimont, topped with the construction and operation of the Quinnimont Charter Oak and Iron Company, which was reported as beginning operating in 1870 is questionable. Some documents found on the internet claim he settled in the area around 1872 and some, 1870. Either way, he did in fact start and operated southern West Virginia’s only, “known”, steel mill. It is supposed to have operated for 3 years before it was closed. Iron ore was mined in Low Moor, Virginia and shipped to be smelted at the steel mill in Quinnimont.
Quinnimont Charter Oak and Iron Co. Source, C&O Historic Society
Quinnimont became a railroad hub in the Gorge during this time.A rail yard for the C&O line was established here, along with a new spur line that would serve the many different coal operations now beginning to pop up in nearby Laurel Creek. This would allow trips of coal cars and freight cars to be kept or allow engines to pass each other on the single track going though the valley. At the height of its growth, Quinnimont was reported to have had a population of at least 500 residents. The community consisted of housing, a store, schools, churches, hotel, baseball field and jail. Because segregation was an unfortunate way of life back then, there were two schools and churches built. One for the white community and one for the African-American community. To also be noted, in these communities, nationalities were also segregated, such as Welsh, Polish, Italian, Irish families. In later years there also sprang up a road side park, service station, diner, car loading dock and coal tipple to add to the town. The C&O Railroad also offered passenger service up and down the New River Gorge as well as neighboring Beckley and up Laurel Creek to Layland.
Today, not much remains of the town of Quinnimont. One house remains at the very edge of the town limits, it is at the end of this homeowners property that the monument to Joseph Beury was erected. A few homes dot the landscape along the hillside and a still active CSX Rail yard can also be found. Exploring the surrounding hillside, you can find the remains of building foundations. Although nature is quickly reclaiming what mankind in his quest for wealth, took away from here so very long ago. The rail line that once ran up Laurel Creek towards Layland has long since been recovered and no longer in use.
Quinnimont Missionary Baptist Church source, author
It still teases a ones imagination as you travel the backroads of these old communities or hike the trails. Allowing your mind to go back to the time when they were still populated communities and visions of long forgotten homes dotting the landscape.
As previously noted, segregation was still a way of life when these towns were formed long ago. The photo as left is of the Quinnimont Missionary Baptist Church established for the African-American community. Separate schools as well were built to accommodate the needs of the community. These two buildings are all that remains of the town of Quinnimont and a reminder of its former residents.
Quinnimont Missionary Church for African- Americans source author
A way of life, perhaps long since forgotten and now part of the National Park System. Most visitors to the Gorge each year may only see or raft the river and the stand in awe of the engineering feat ofNew River Gorge Bridge. Perhaps an adventure in rock climbing or trail hike, unaware of the history of the people who once settled this rugged region. Unaware of what the remnants of these structures dotted along the valley were at one time.
Foundations of homes and businesses now crumbling, slowly returning back to nature and soon, nothing will remain. Coke ovens supporting the weight of full grown trees. Graves now fading from view. It is all slowly becoming a little stretch of nature along U.S. Route 41 in Fayette County.
Monument erected to honor Joseph Beury source National Park Service Monument inlay plaque source author
In the 1920s, Colonel Beury's coal operator associates erected a twenty-five foot tall, fifty-five ton granite monument at Quinnimont in his honor at a cost of $30,000. Today the monument has no road sign indicating its location but still stands. It is not visible from the river, sadly and those rafting the New are unable to see it.