Paul Morton

Paul Morton became general mine superintendent for AMES Mining Company. He left AMES Mining Company in 1949 to become general manager of Royalty Smokeless Coal Company at Cliff Top, Fayette County. This was A.T. Massey Company's first coal production company. Morgan Massey visited the mine site often and took a particular interest in the production side of the business. In 1953, Morton was offered the general mine superintendent position at Cannelton Coal Company. Morton was soon named president of Cannelton, succeeding Frank Harris. He worked at Cannelton, as president, and later chairman of the Board for the rest of his mining career. He retired in 1979, at the mandatory retirement age of 65. Under Morton's management, Cannelton operations expanded in the Kanawha Valley, where it operated four deep mines, as well as one of the first mountain top removal surface mines in West Virginia. The latter operation started in 1961, and mined several thousand acres of land to remove over 20 million tons of coal for processing at the Lady Dunn preparation plant. Morton was active in the West Virginia coal industry for 46 years. In addition to his responsibilities of running the mines for Algoma Coal and Coke and others, he found time to be president and director of the New River Coal Association, the Southern Coal Producers Association, the Kanawha County Coal Operators Association, Chairman of the West Virginia Coal Association, Chairman of the National Coal Association and served on the Bituminous Coal Operators UMWA contract negotiating committee for many years.