Fire Creek Coal

From West Virginia (WV) Cyclopedia

Among the most valuable coal seams in the New River Gorge region, the Fire Creek Coal, also known as the "Quinnimont" Coal or "Lower Beckley Coal," was first mined commercially at Quinnimont on the New River by the Quinnimont Coal & Coke Co. The enterprise was short lived, however, as the seam's extent was locally limited. A mine opened later in a seam at the head of Fire Creek in central Fayette County that was designated the "Fire Creek Coal," though state geologists later determined it to be the Quinnimont bed, but "the trade name...had become so firmly established as to supplant the former in spite of the rules of geologic nomenclature favoring the former designation."

The Fire Creek Coal occurs some 60 feet, on average, below the Beckley Coal, hence its alternative nomenclature as the Lower Beckley Coal. The Fire Creek bed divides into multiple beds in some areas. The seam is also some 35 feet below the Quinnimont Sandstone.