Joseph L. McQuade

Joseph L. McQuade began his career during the Great Depression working his way up the coal mining ladder from hand loading coal to section cross, then mine foreman, superintendent, general manager, and finally president of a major coal corporation. He is credited with mining 150 million tons of coal in his lifetime. During his mining career, McQuade was president of the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute, and the National Mine Rescue Association, and a member of the King Coal Club. While working for Maust, McQuade improved the efficiency of the mines by converting underground operations from Washington, D.C. to alternating current. He successfully developed mines in coal seams of less than thirty inches and devised several improvements in the methods or cleaning line sizes of coal, which improved the recovery rate of merchantable coal. He patented improvements in a type of continuous miner and also pioneered the development of new techniques in cleaning plants. In 1963, McQuade became president of Maust Coal and Coke Corporation. In 1965 he retired and founded Riverton Coal with Jack Long. After selling Maust Coal and Coke Corporation, McQuade retired for the second time and began consulting for Berwind Land Company. He died in 2001 at the age of 86.