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Abandoned mines › Illinois
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Grundy County, Illinois

Grundy County, Illinois has 105 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1918–1993. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 78 problems in the county, 19 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 7 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Grundy 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)
105
Mine openings
0
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
19
MSHA mines marked abandoned
7
0 features carry a name0 prospect pits16 quadrangle maps, published 1918–1993 78 OSMRE problems, 59 reclaimed 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
    20 10.9%
  2. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    28 15.3%
  3. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    28 15.3%
  4. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    74 40.4%
  5. Mills, tipples and facilities
    processing plants and hazardous structures
    1 0.5%
  6. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    32 17.5%
OSMRE abandoned mine land problems78 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Big Four Wilm. C.c. #6 P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Big Four Wilm. C.c. #6 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Big Four Wilm. C.c. #6 P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Big Four Wilmington No.3 P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Big Four Wilmington No.3 P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Completed
Big Four Wilmington No.4 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Big Four Wilmington No.4 P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Big Four Wilmington No.4 P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Completed
Big Four Wilmington No.5 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Big Four Wilmington No.5 P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Big Four Wilmington No.5 P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Braceville C.c. #2 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Braceville C.c. #2 P3 Gobs In Reclamation
Braceville C.c. #6 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Braceville C.c. #6 P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Braceville C.c. #6 P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
Braceville Cc #3 P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Braceville Cc #3 P3 Other Reclamation Completed
Braceville Cc #3 P3 Slurry Reclamation Completed
Braceville Coal Company No.5 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Braceville Coal Company No.5 P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
Bungalow Road P1 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bungalow Road P1 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Chi, Wilm, P3 Gobs In Reclamation
Chi, Wilm, P3 Mine Opening In Reclamation
Chi, Wilm, & Verm #2 P3 Gobs In Reclamation
Chi, Wilm, & Verm #2 P3 Other Reclamation Completed
Chi., Wilm. & Verm. "k" Mine P2 Clogged Stream Lands Reclamation Completed
Chi., Wilm. & Verm. "k" Mine P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Chi., Wilm. & Verm. "k" Mine P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Chicago, Wilmington, P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Chicago, Wilmington, P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Chicago, Wilmington, P3 Other Reclamation Completed
Coal City Refuse Fire-wilm. Star No P1 Surface Burning Reclamation Completed
Diamond A Mine P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Diamond A Mine P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Diamond No.5 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Diamond No.5 P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Diamond No.5 P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Completed
Diamond Shaft P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Gardner Wilmington No1 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
Gardner Wilmington No1 P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
Lake Tandem P1 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Pending
Lake Tandem P2 Dangerous Highwalls In Reclamation
Lake Tandem P3 Spoil Area In Reclamation
Lemmon Street Shaft P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Mazonia-braidwood P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Pending
Morris Coal & Mining Co. Sm-5 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Morris Coal & Mining Sm-1 P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Morris Coal & Mining Sm-1 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Morris Sm-4 P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Morris Sm-4 P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Northern Il. Coal Corp Lincoln Lake P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments In Reclamation
Northern Il. Coal Corp Lincoln Lake P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments In Reclamation
Northern Il. Coal Corp. Bass Lake P2 Dangerous Impoundments Reclamation Pending
Northern Il. Coal Corp. Deer Lake P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Pending
Northwestern Il. C.c. P1 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Northwestern Il. C.c. P2 Clogged Stream Lands Reclamation Completed
Northwestern Il. C.c. P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Northwestern Il. C.c. P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Savage Mine P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Shotz Mine P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Shotz Mine P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Sunlight C.c. P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Sunlight C.c. P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Sunlight C.c. P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Sunlight C.c. P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Truckers C.c. #1 P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Will County C.c. P2 Dangerous Highwalls In Reclamation
Will County C.c. P2 Dangerous Impoundments In Reclamation
Will County C.c. P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Will County C.c. P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Wilmington Star C.c. #5 P3 Slurry Reclamation Completed
Wilmington Star Mining Co. #7 P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Wilmington Star Mining Co. #7 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Wilmington Star Mining Co. #7 P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Wilmington Star Mining Co. #7 P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Wilmington Star No.6 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed

Problem types carry OSMRE's priority prefix: P1 and P2 are threats to health, safety and property, P3 is environmental. A problem area is a cluster of problems reclaimed as one project; several rows can share one location.

MSHA-registered mines with status Abandoned7 on register
  1. A P Green Refractories Morris Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · A P Green Refractories Inc · MSHA ID 1100495
    Abandoned
  2. KA-LO Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Morris Sand & Gravel, Inc. · MSHA ID 1103085
    Abandoned
  3. Morris - Plant #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · IM Crushing, LLC · MSHA ID 1103259
    Abandoned
  4. Morris Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Western Sand & Gravel Company · MSHA ID 1102907
    Abandoned
  5. NARVICK PORTABLE CRUSHER
    Surface metal/non-metal · Narvick Brothers Lumber Company Inc · MSHA ID 1103078
    Abandoned
  6. Pit #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Nettle Creek Sand Inc · MSHA ID 1102892
    Abandoned
  7. PLANT #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Illinois Mining Corporation · MSHA ID 1103246
    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
Mine Dump 47
Strip Mine 21
P2 Vertical Openings 15
P3 Gobs 14
Gravel Pit 9
Gravel Pit 8
Sand and Gravel Pit 6
P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 6
P3 Equipment Facility 5
Sand and Gravel Pit 5
P1 Vertical Openings 5
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 4
P3 Pits 4
P3 Spoil Area 4
P3 Mine Opening 4
P2 Clogged Streams 3
P3 Other 3
Disturbed Surface - Pit 3
P2 Dangerous Highwalls 2
P3 Slurry 2
P1 Dangerous Highwalls 2
P2 Dangerous Impoundments 2
Tailings - Pond 2
P2 Clogged Stream Lands 2
P1 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 1
P1 Dangerous Slides 1
P3 Water Problems 1
P1 Surface Burning 1
P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 1
Other counties in IllinoisAll 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.