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Abandoned mines › Illinois
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in St. Clair County, Illinois

St. Clair County, Illinois has 136 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1910–1998, including 20 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts); 9 of the features carry a name on the map. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 229 problems in the county, 49 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 21 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering St. Clair 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)
136
Mine openings
20
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
49
MSHA mines marked abandoned
21
9 features carry a name0 prospect pits18 quadrangle maps, published 1910–1998 229 OSMRE problems, 180 reclaimed 1 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
    76 20.8%
  2. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    93 25.5%
  3. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    14 3.8%
  4. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    34 9.3%
  5. Mills, tipples and facilities
    processing plants and hazardous structures
    11 3.0%
  6. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    137 37.5%
Named features on the maps9 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Diamond Joe Mine Open Pit Mine
Gundlach Mines Open Pit Mine
New St Clair Mine Open Pit Mine
River King Mine No. 1 Mine Shaft
Ruby Mine Open Pit Mine
St Ellen Mine Open Pit Mine
St Louis Open Pit Mine or Quarry
St Louis & O'Fallon Mine Mine
Taylor 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.

OSMRE abandoned mine land problems229 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Adam Dr. Gas Leak P1 Gases: Hazardous/Explosive Reclamation Completed
Askins Smith Shaft P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Askins-Smith Shaft P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Bechtoldt Pit Subsidence 2021 P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Belle Valley C.c. P1 Gases: Hazardous/Explosive Reclamation Completed
Belle Valley C.c. P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Belle Valley C.c. P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Belle Valley C.c. P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Belle Valley C.c. P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Belle Valley North School P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Belle Valley North School P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Belle Valley Slag P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Belle Valley Slag P3 Water Problems Reclamation Completed
Bennet Mine P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Pending
Bluff View Mine P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Borders No.1 Shaft P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Bunker Hill C.c. P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
Bunker Hill C.c. P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Pending
Bush Pit-woodland C.c. P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Cambridge Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Carbon Mine P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Pending
Carr Pit (shaft) P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Central Park Circle Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Central Park Circle Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Chamley Shaft-new St. Clair C.c. P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Charlton Place Sag Subsidence 2022 P1 Subsidence In Reclamation
Charlton Place Sag Subsidence 2022 P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Colonial Square Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Consolidated C.c. # 17 P2 Clogged Stream Lands Reclamation Completed
Consolidated C.c. # 17 P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Consolidated C.c. # 17 P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Cox Highwall P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Cox Highwall P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Douglas Road Embankment P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Pending
Eckert Orchards Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Edgemont Mine P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
Edgemont Mine P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Pending
Edgemont Mine P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Eldnar Mine P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Emergency - Yen Ching Shaft P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Emergency Bueckman Pit P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Emergency-diversified Coating Shaft P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Enterprise Mine P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Pending
Excelsior Mine P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Excelsior Mine P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Floraville Road Embankment P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Pending
Freeark Pit Subsidence 2023 P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Freeburg No.1 Pit P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments In Reclamation
Freeburg No.1 Pit P2 Dangerous Slides In Reclamation
Freeburg No.1 Pit P3 High Wall Reclamation Completed
Fullerton Mine P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
Golden Rule P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Golden Rule P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Goldeneye Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Goldeneye Sag Subsidence P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Grandpa's Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Harmony Gas Leak P1 Gases: Hazardous/Explosive Reclamation Completed
Haydite Mine P1 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Haydite Mine P1 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Pending
Haydite Mine P1 Portals Reclamation Completed
Helm/Swansea Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Highland Mine Shaft P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Highway 15 Pit - 2014 P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Holly Court Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Il - Rock Island - Fea P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Il - Saint Clair - Fea P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
IL-15 Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Johama Area P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Johnson Pit P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Johnson Valley Coal Company P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
Johnson/Belleville Foundation P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Kenwood Shaft P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Kenwood Shaft P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Kingston Drive Pit P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Knecht Mine P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Pending
Knecht Mine P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Pending
Lenzburg Mine P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Lenzburg Mine P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Lenzburg Mine P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Completed
Lincolnshire Sag P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Lincolnshire Sag 2018 P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Lincolnshire Sag 2018 P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Little Oak Mine P1 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Little Oak Mine P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Little Oak Mine P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Logan Pit Subsidence 2018 P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Longacre Ponds Apt Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Loop Creek Court Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Loop Creek Court Sag P3 Slump Reclamation Pending
Main Guy Mine P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Main Street Sag 2019 P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Main Street Sag 2019 P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Marlo Drive Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Mascoutah No.2 P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities In Reclamation
Mascoutah No.2 P3 Mine Opening In Reclamation
McCarty Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
McLanahan Pit P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Meek Mine P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Pending
Midway Mine P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Midway Mine P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Pending
Midwest Cc. P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Midwest Cc. P2 Dangerous Impoundments Reclamation Completed
Midwest Cc. P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Midwest Cc. P2 Polluted Water: Human Consumption Reclamation Completed
Midwest Cc. P2 Polluted Water: Human Consumption Reclamation Completed
Midwest Cc. P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Midwest Cc. P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
MidwestMine Haul Road Embankment P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Pending
Millstone Dr. Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Minter Street Pit P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Montgomery Dr. Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Morgan Coal Company P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Morgan Coal Company P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Mueller Shaft P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Mulberry Hill C.c. P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Mulberry Hill C.c. P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
New Royal Borehole P1 Gases: Hazardous/Explosive Reclamation Completed
Northland Sewer Sag P2 Subsidence Reclamation Pending
O.k. Mine P2 Clogged Stream Lands In Reclamation
O.k. Mine P2 Vertical Openings In Reclamation
O.k. Mine P3 Mine Opening In Reclamation
O'fallon Coal Company No.1 P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Pending
Old Gundlach Mine P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Pending
Old Schoolhouse Court Sag P2 Subsidence Reclamation Pending
Oliver Lee Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Orsinger Residence Sag P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Patricia Lane Sag Subsidence 2021 P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Paule Pit P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Paule Pit P1 Surface Burning Reclamation Completed
Paule Pit P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Paule Pit P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Peabody C.c. Seminole Mine P2 Clogged Stream Lands Reclamation Completed
Peabody C.c. Seminole Mine P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Peabody C.c. Seminole Mine P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Peabody C.c. Seminole Mine P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Peabody C.c.river King #6 P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Peabody C.c.river King #6 P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Peabody C.c.river King #6 P3 Water Problems Reclamation Completed
Peabody Greer Diamond Mine P2 Clogged Stream Lands In Reclamation
Peabody Greer Diamond Mine P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Peabody Greer Diamond Mine P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Peabody Greer Diamond Mine P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Completed
Peabody Greer Diamond Mine P3 Slurry Reclamation Completed
Peabody Greer Diamond Mine P3 Water Problems In Reclamation
Peabody Riverking Fish & Wildlife A P1 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Peabody Riverking Fish & Wildlife A P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Peabody Riverking Fish & Wildlife A P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Persimmon Drive Sag P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Pre 87 P2 Industrial/Residential Waste Reclamation Completed
Queensway Drive Sag Subsidence P1 Subsidence Reclamation Pending

…and 79 more problems not listed here.

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 Abandoned21 on register
  1. Belle Valley Mine
    Underground coal · Belle Valley Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 1100615
    Abandoned
  2. Cargill Salt Terminal
    Facility metal/non-metal · Cargill Salt · MSHA ID 1102487
    Abandoned
  3. Casper Stolle Quarry & Contracting Co
    Surface metal/non-metal · Casper Stolle Quarry & Contracting Co · MSHA ID 1100211
    Abandoned
  4. Christy Mine #2
    Facility coal · Seminole Coal Corp · MSHA ID 1103023
    Abandoned
  5. Cottonwood Hills
    Surface coal · Waste Management of IL · MSHA ID 1103116
    Abandoned
  6. Freeburg Sand And Gravel
    Surface metal/non-metal · Freeburg Sand & Gravel-Div/Iola Quarry Inc · MSHA ID 1102616
    Abandoned
  7. Green Diamond Shop
    Facility coal · Peabody Coal Company · MSHA ID 1102756
    Abandoned
  8. Illini Loading Dock
    Surface metal/non-metal · Illini Sand Company · MSHA ID 1101623
    Abandoned
  9. Kaskaskia Loading Dock
    Facility coal · Peabody Coal Company · MSHA ID 1102557
    Abandoned
  10. Metro East Sand Inc
    Surface metal/non-metal · Metro East Sand Inc · MSHA ID 1102766
    Abandoned
  11. Midwest Highwall Mine No 3
    Underground coal · Peabody Coal Company · MSHA ID 1100728
    Abandoned
  12. Midwest Highwall No 2
    Underground coal · Peabody Coal Company · MSHA ID 1100811
    Abandoned
  13. Randolph Prep Plant
    Facility coal · Hillside Recreational Lands, LLC · MSHA ID 1101999
    Abandoned
  14. River Dock Loading Dock
    Facility coal · Peabody Coal Company · MSHA ID 1101739
    Abandoned
  15. River King Pit No 3
    Surface coal · Peabody Coal Company · MSHA ID 1102018
    Abandoned
  16. River King Prep
    Facility coal · Peabody Coal Company · MSHA ID 1101805
    Abandoned
  17. River King Underground
    Underground coal · Peabody Coal Company · MSHA ID 1100725
    Abandoned and Sealed
  18. St Ellen Project-Culm
    Surface coal · Minerals Management Corp · MSHA ID 1102583
    Abandoned
  19. St Libory Mine
    Underground coal · Peabody Coal Company · MSHA ID 1102441
    Abandoned
  20. Superior Sand Company
    Surface metal/non-metal · Superior Sand Company · MSHA ID 1101911
    Abandoned
  21. Tsm Central
    Facility coal · Peabody Coal Company · MSHA ID 1102656
    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
P1 Subsidence 46
Strip Mine 31
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 27
P1 Vertical Openings 26
P2 Vertical Openings 22
Strip Mine 20
P2 Subsidence 15
Mine Shaft 15
P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 13
P3 Mine Opening 13
P3 Gobs 11
P3 Water Problems 10
P3 Equipment Facility 10
P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 9
Open Pit Mine 8
Mine Dump 5
P2 Clogged Streams 5
P2 Clogged Stream Lands 5
Quarry 5
P1 Gases: Hazardous/Explosive 5
P2 Polluted Water: Human Consumption 4
Air Shaft 4
P3 Pits 4
P1 Portals 4
P2 Portals 4
Disturbed Surface 3
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 3
Quarry 3
P2 Dangerous Highwalls 3
P1 Surface Burning 3
P3 Other 2
Disturbed Surface - Pit 2
P3 Slump 2
P1 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 2
P2 Dangerous Impoundments 2
Tailings - Pond 2
P2 Hazardous Water Bodies 1
P1 Dangerous Highwalls 1
P3 Slurry 1
Settling Pond 1
P2 Industrial/Residential Waste 1
P2 Gases: Hazardous/Explosive 1
P2 Dangerous Slides 1
Sand Pit 1
P3 High Wall 1
Open Pit Mine 1
P1 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 1
Slag Pile 1
P2 Polluted Water: Agricultural & Industrial 1
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 1
Clay Pit 1
Adit 1
Mine 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.