By William “Skip” Deegans
Quinwood is named, in part, for Quinn Morton (pictured), a coal operator and principal of Imperial Smokeless Coal Co. Morton was born in 1857 in Charlotte Court House, Virginia, to a wealthy and politically well-connected family. The family, however, lost much of their wealth during the Civil War. Obviously bright, Morton passed the prerequisite examinations to become a school teacher when he was 18. He moved to Greenbrier County when he was 20 and was employed in the mercantile business in Ronceverte. Later, he became a cashier with the Bank of Ronceverte.
In 1896, Morton was employed as a bookkeeper at the Turkey Knob Coal Co. in Fayette County. By this time, he had married Fannie Hurzthal of Philadelphia and was well on his way to having a large family. In 1903, he organized the Morton Coal Co. that operated in Kanawha County. In 1906, he was hired as general manager of the Imperial Colleries, and in 1911 he organized the Christian Colliery.
Morton made headline news in West Virginia newspapers when he was the subject of a Senate investigation on violence in the state coal fields. Morton was accused of riding on an armored railroad car that shot machine guns at striking coal miners on Cabin Creek and Paint Creek in Kanawha County. The investigation lead to hearings and a report denouncing West Virginia’s governor and coal operators.
Morton and Walter Wood organized the Imperial Smokeless Coal Company that was the first enterprise to mine coal in the Greenbrier field. Before coal could be transported, Morton, Wood and other coal operators worked together to build the Greenbrier and Eastern Railroad that connected Quinwood to the rail spur in Rainelle.
On July 17, 1921, the first two loaded coal cars left Quinwood. Imperial Smokeless was the first coal company to send a long distance phone message to Rainelle and the first to use electric power for lighting and mining. In 1922, Imperial Smokeless shipped nearly 80,000 tons of coal.
Quinn Morton, past president of the Kanawha Coal Operators Association and a member of the board of directors of the National Coal Association, died in 1925 and is buried in Ronceverte.
Sources: The West Virginia News, Greenbrier Independent, Bluefield Daily Telegraph, The Socialist and Labor Star, West Virginia Geological Survey.
