JOHN B. CLIFTON. One of the youngest coal operatorsin Raleigh County,
John B. Clifton as a boy took up railroading, spent several years in growing
responsibilities in the railroad service, and had the expert qualifications
as a traffic man when he turned to the coal industry. It has been his fortune
to associate with prominent men, and
among them he is regarded as one of the coming leaders in the coal
industry of West Virginia.
Mr. Clifton was born at Ridgeway, Montgomery County, Virginia, July
27, 1891, son of James W. and Mary K.
(Kelley) Clifton, both natives of Virginia, and his father a farmer.
He is of English ancestry. John B. Clifton
attended the common schools of Montgomery County until he was sixteen
years of age, then learned telegraphy, and his first assignment of duty
was as an operator on the Norfolk & Western. He served with that road
from 1907 until 1910, and then became general operator for the Virginia
Railway, his duties taking him all over the line. Beginning in 1912,
he acted as car distributor for the road, but resigned in 1915 to go into
the coal business on the Stone Coal Branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio.
At that time he became part owner of the Beckley Smokeless Coal Company.
He sold his interest in that organization in 1919, and since then has helped
organize and has been active as a business representative and as a member
of producing and sales companies operating in the Raleigh County field.
These include the Raleigh Smokeless Coal Company, Guyan Collieries Company,
Wilton Smokeless Coal Company, Wood-Peck Fuel Company, Red Ash Coal Company.
Mr. Clifton also has interests in South America, the Raleigh Smokeless
Fuel Company maintaining an office at Rio Janeiro, Brazil.
Submitted by Valerie Crook <vfcrook@earthlink.net>
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