Thomas W. Howard

Thomas W. Howard grew up around coal mining at an early age. He spent a year at Greenbrier Military School in Lewisburg, West Virginia, later obtaining his private and commercial pilot's license. Howard graduated from West Virginia University and entered the United States Navy as a combat officer. After the war, Howard obtained his master's in mining engineering at WVU. Howard began his career at Summerlee Mine. Howard became a section foreman at Summerlee and later an assistant to the superintendent at The New River Company's Stanford No. 2 Mine, which mined the Beckley seam. In 1961, Howard left The New River Company to form his own consulting mining engineering firm - Thomas W. Howard, Inc. Over the years his company performed numerous professional duties, such as setting spads in many of the local mines, performing various engineering projects, coal reserve and feasibility studies. He traveled to India in 1963 to study rail transportation as part of a World Bank team project. Land companies and estate trusts also became clients of Thomas W. Howard, Inc. In early 1964, the consulting firm rented a vacant office in The New River Company's General Office Building, and now his family owns this historic structure. In 1970, while continuing to operate his consulting firm, Howard became general manager of the Beaver Coal Company, Ltd., and served as general manager for over 20 years, then became a member of the Board of Directors of the Beaver Management Corporation. Howard retired from Beaver's board in 2006. During his time with Beaver, some of the mines operating on their leases included Eccles, Baylor Mining, Stotesbury, Affinity, Slab Fork, Piney Creek Coal Co., Sullivan and Stanaford.