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Abandoned mines › California
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Imperial County, California

Imperial County, California has 1,232 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1929–1992, including 347 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts) and 698 prospect pits; 50 of the features carry a name on the map. MSHA's register carries 54 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Imperial County, every OSMRE abandoned mine land problem in the county, and every MSHA-registered mine here with status Abandoned. Named features are listed below; unnamed ones are counted by type. Locations are deliberately not shown: this page says what abandoned workings are in the county, not where to find them. They are dangerous and should not be entered.

Mapped mine features (USGS)
1,232
Mine openings
347
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
0
MSHA mines marked abandoned
54
50 features carry a name698 prospect pits71 quadrangle maps, published 1929–1992 0 MSHA mines abandoned and sealed
What the features are
  1. Mine openings
    shafts, adits, air shafts, portals and vertical openings: the ways into underground workings
    347 28.2%
  2. Prospect pits and trenches
    shallow exploration diggings that never became a mine
    698 56.7%
  3. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    68 5.5%
  4. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    119 9.7%
Named features on the maps50 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
American Girl Mine Mine Shaft
American Girl Mine Mine Shaft
American Girl Mine Open Pit Mine area
Bertram Mine Open Pit Mine area
Bertram Mine Open Pit Mine
Black Eagle Mine Open Pit Mine
Black Eagle Mine Prospect Pit
Cargo Mine Mine Shaft
Cargo Mine Mine Shaft
County Gravel Pit Gravel Pit
County Rock Quarry Quarry - Rock
Easy Pickins Mine Mine Shaft
Elliot Mine Adit
Elliot Mine Open Pit Mine
Geode Bed Open Pit Mine or Quarry
Geode Beds Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated
German Diggings Diggings
Gold Basin Rand Mine Mine Shaft
Golden Dream Mine Mine Shaft
Golden Dream Mine Open Pit Mine
Guadalupe Mine Mine Shaft
Hess Mine Mine Shaft
Imperial Buttes Mine Adit
La Colorado Mine Mine Shaft
Mary Lode Mine Adit
Mary Lode Mine Mine Shaft
Mesquite Mine Open Pit Mine
Occidental Mine Mine Shaft
Old Channel Mine Shaft Mine Shaft
Old Channel Mine Shaft Mine Shaft
Old Senator Mine Mine Shaft
Old Senator Mine Open Pit Mine
Padre Madre Mine Mine Shaft
Padre Madre Mine Mine Shaft
Pasadena Mine Mine Shaft
Pasadina Mine Mine Shaft
Paymaster Mine Mine Shaft
Pegleg Mine Mine Shaft
Picacho Mine Mine Shaft
Picacho Mine Open Pit Mine
Rainbow Mine Adit
Rainbow Mine Mine Shaft
Smugglers Cave Adit
Three C Mine Mine Shaft
Trio Mine Mine Shaft
Trio Mine Mine Shaft
Tumco Mine Mine Shaft
Tumco Mine Open Pit Mine area
Two-Wee Mine Mine Shaft
Vista Mine Mine Shaft

A name is the label printed beside the symbol on the map. "First mapped" is the earliest topographic edition that shows the symbol, which bounds the feature's age from above; it is not the date it was worked. Unnamed features (most prospect pits, adits and shafts carry no label) are in the counts above but not this list.

MSHA-registered mines with status Abandoned54 on register
  1. 3 C'S
    Surface metal/non-metal · Ne Calaz Minerals Ltd · MSHA ID 0405035
    Abandoned
  2. AMERICAN GIRL SURFACE MINE
    Surface metal/non-metal · American Girl Mining Joint Venture · MSHA ID 0404872
    Abandoned
  3. AMERICAN GIRL UNDERGROUND MINE/M
    Underground metal/non-metal · American Girl Mining Joint Venture · MSHA ID 0404816
    Abandoned
  4. AMMEX
    Surface metal/non-metal · Granite Construction Company · MSHA ID 0404784
    Abandoned
  5. Ammex Aggregate #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Ammex Aggregate Corp · MSHA ID 0405090
    Abandoned
  6. Beachline Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Merrill Corp · MSHA ID 0403733
    Abandoned
  7. Belle Of Portugal Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Imperial Mining Company · MSHA ID 0404857
    Abandoned
  8. BROWN CLAY
    Surface metal/non-metal · Protech Minerals Inc · MSHA ID 0405400
    Abandoned
  9. Cherokee Load
    Surface metal/non-metal · Cherokee Milling & Mining · MSHA ID 0404376
    Abandoned
  10. Crusher Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Sundt Corp · MSHA ID 0404933
    Abandoned
  11. EAST HIGHLINE
    Surface metal/non-metal · IMPERIAL VALLEY AGGREGATES LLC · MSHA ID 0401816
    Abandoned
  12. EAST HIGHLINE #2
    Surface metal/non-metal · GIBSON'S ALL AMERCIAN AGGREGATES, INC. · MSHA ID 0405682
    Abandoned
  13. East Highline Pit No 2
    Surface metal/non-metal · All American Aggregates · MSHA ID 0404112
    Abandoned
  14. East Highline Plant No 2
    Surface metal/non-metal · All American Aggregates · MSHA ID 0405186
    Abandoned
  15. El Centro
    Surface metal/non-metal · Granite Construction Company · MSHA ID 0405113
    Abandoned
  16. El Star
    Surface metal/non-metal · J R Gold Mining Company · MSHA ID 0404942
    Abandoned
  17. Elms Equipment Rental
    Surface metal/non-metal · Elms Equipment Rental Inc · MSHA ID 0404929
    Abandoned
  18. ELMS HIGHLINE SAND PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Elms Equipment Rental Inc · MSHA ID 0405369
    Abandoned
  19. FLOWING WELLS
    Surface metal/non-metal · Granite Construction Company · MSHA ID 0405115
    Abandoned
  20. Flowing Wells Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Curtis Construction Co & M G Curtis Co Inc · MSHA ID 0404308
    Abandoned
  21. Frink-West Side-Highline-Mt Signal
    Surface metal/non-metal · Lucky Engineering Contractors · MSHA ID 0404186
    Abandoned
  22. Glamis Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · All American Aggregates · MSHA ID 0404113
    Abandoned
  23. GRANITE CONSTRUCTION CO
    Surface metal/non-metal · Granite Construction Company · MSHA ID 0404941
    Abandoned
  24. High Line Sand Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Massey Sand & Rock Company · MSHA ID 0404063
    Abandoned
  25. Holtville Wash Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Blue Circle West · MSHA ID 0404955
    Abandoned
  26. Imperial Valley Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Continental Bullion Corp · MSHA ID 0404363
    Abandoned
  27. JACKSON GULCH
    Surface metal/non-metal · Orlosky Inc · MSHA ID 0405230
    Abandoned
  28. Jimenez
    Surface metal/non-metal · Granite Construction Company · MSHA ID 0405516
    Abandoned
  29. Modoc
    Surface metal/non-metal · Modoc Mining Company · MSHA ID 0405243
    Abandoned
  30. Morisson Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mineral Management Inc · MSHA ID 0404368
    Abandoned
  31. Oat Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Imperial County Road Department · MSHA ID 0404290
    Abandoned
  32. Occidental Group
    Surface metal/non-metal · ROSE MINE LTD. · MSHA ID 0405922
    Abandoned
  33. Ocotillo Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Massey Sand & Rock Company · MSHA ID 0403539
    Abandoned
  34. Ocotillo Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · William H Raley Company Inc · MSHA ID 0403735
    Abandoned
  35. Palo Verde Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Warnerton Gravel Company · MSHA ID 0404392
    Abandoned
  36. Palo Verde Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Burchett & Good Contractors Inc · MSHA ID 0405130
    Abandoned
  37. PICACHO MINE
    Surface metal/non-metal · Chemgold Inc · MSHA ID 0404502
    Abandoned
  38. Pilot Knob
    Surface metal/non-metal · Cooper & Sons Inc · MSHA ID 0405044
    Abandoned
  39. Pilot Knob Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · C & C Construction Corp · MSHA ID 0404774
    Abandoned
  40. PORTABLE CRUSHER
    Surface metal/non-metal · D L C · MSHA ID 0405257
    Abandoned
  41. Portable Plant A
    Surface metal/non-metal · Romero General Construction Corp · MSHA ID 0405622
    Abandoned
  42. PORTABLE PLANT B
    Surface metal/non-metal · Diversified Materials · MSHA ID 0404968
    Abandoned
  43. Portable Screen
    Surface metal/non-metal · R T Pinner & Son Inc · MSHA ID 0403734
    Abandoned
  44. Schaefer Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Haynes & Schaefer · MSHA ID 0404187
    Abandoned
  45. Shank
    Surface metal/non-metal · Granite Construction Company · MSHA ID 0405114
    Abandoned
  46. SHELL CANYON OCOTILLO PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · PYRAMID CONSTRUCTION AND AGGREGATES, INC. · MSHA ID 0405070
    Abandoned
  47. SHELL CANYON PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Val-Rock Inc · MSHA ID 0404071
    Abandoned
  48. SHELL CANYON PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Val-Rock Inc · MSHA ID 0404701
    Abandoned
  49. Shoveler Annex
    Surface metal/non-metal · California Portland Cement Company · MSHA ID 0403571
    Abandoned
  50. Sidewinder Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Kiewit Pacific Co · MSHA ID 0405730
    Abandoned
  51. THE STANDARD GYPSUM MINE
    Surface metal/non-metal · Eco Solutions · MSHA ID 0405304
    Abandoned
  52. Tierra Tile Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Tierra Tile · MSHA ID 0404720
    Abandoned
  53. U S Bureau Of Reclamation Pits
    Surface metal/non-metal · U S Bureau Of Reclamation · MSHA ID 0404404
    Abandoned
  54. Wonderstone Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Massey Sand & Rock Company · MSHA ID 0404951
    Abandoned

Status and date are as reported to MSHA by the operator. Each mine's own page carries its accident, citation and inspection record.

By source vocabularythe publishers' own terms
Feature type Features
Prospect Pit 698
Mine Shaft 234
Adit 113
Gravel Pit 59
Gravel Pit 34
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 30
Open Pit Mine 27
Open Pit Mine 6
Quarry 6
Quarry - Rock 4
Quarry 4
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 4
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 3
Disturbed Surface - Pit 2
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 2
Sand Pit 2
Quarry - Gypsum 1
Borrow Pit 1
Diggings 1
Quarry - Rock 1
Other counties in CaliforniaAll counties →
How to read these numbers

A USGS feature is a symbol on a historical topographic map, there when the map was surveyed; it may since have been sealed, reclaimed, built over or reopened as a working mine, and the map does not say which. An OSMRE row is a problem the abandoned mine land program tracks, not a mine. An MSHA mine is a registered operation whose operator reported abandonment, a record that starts in the 1970s. The three overlap and are never added together. The county is assigned from each feature's coordinates against the Census 2023 county boundaries. The full method is on the national page.

Sources
  1. USGS, Consolidated Prospect- and Mine-Related Features from 7.5- and 15-Minute Topographic Quadrangle Maps of the United States (USMIN)
    597,612 point and area features digitized from about 106,350 historical topographic maps published 1886–2006; public domain (CC0). A feature is a map symbol, not a field-verified site, and the map does not say whether it was still worked.
  2. USGS Fact Sheet 2025–3003, The Abandoned Mine Inventory of the United States
    States that as of 2025 there is no comprehensive national inventory of abandoned mine features, and that the detailed national database now being built will not be published.
  3. OSMRE, Abandoned Mine Land Inventory System (e-AMLIS), public Problems layer
    One row per abandoned mine land problem in a problem area, with its type, funding program and reclamation status; mostly coal mined before the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. Coordinates are the problem area's.
  4. MSHA, Mines dataset (Mine Data Retrieval System)
    Every mine registered with MSHA since the 1970s; a mine reads Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed when its operator reported that status. Refreshed weekly.
  5. US Census Bureau, 2023 cartographic county boundaries (1:500,000)
    Each feature's county is assigned by its coordinates against these boundaries, not copied from the source file.
  6. GAO-20-238, Abandoned Hardrock Mines (March 2020)
    Federal agencies had identified at least 140,000 abandoned hardrock mine features on federal land and estimated more than 390,000 more not yet captured in their databases.
  7. Abandoned Hardrock Mine Reclamation (AHMR) Program, US Department of the Interior
    The program the USGS inventory is compiled for. Its appropriations and the 674,000 field-confirmed feature count on this page were provided by the program manager, Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance, and are cited with permission (2026-09-08).
  8. IMCC-NAAMLP Hardrock AML Report
    Page 48 carries the two figures this page leans on: USGS estimates 633,181 of the 725,690 mine features it recorded from historic topographic maps, 87 percent, are hardrock; and state and federal agencies have submitted more than 724,000 AML features to the national database being built, already more than the historic maps hold. Year-by-year AHMR funding is on page 35.