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Abandoned mines › Illinois
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Will County, Illinois

Will County, Illinois has 220 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1918–1999. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 28 problems in the county, 12 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 32 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Will 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)
220
Mine openings
0
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
12
MSHA mines marked abandoned
32
0 features carry a name0 prospect pits17 quadrangle maps, published 1918–1999 28 OSMRE problems, 16 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
    13 5.2%
  2. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    32 12.9%
  3. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    148 59.7%
  4. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    47 19.0%
  5. Mills, tipples and facilities
    processing plants and hazardous structures
    1 0.4%
  6. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    7 2.8%
OSMRE abandoned mine land problems28 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
"g" Mine Shaft P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
799 W. 3rd Street P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Braidwood City Park Pit P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Braidwood Co-op Mine P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
C, W, & V ' D' Mine P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
C,W & V 'L' Mine P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
C,W & V 'L' Mine P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
Chi., Wilm., & Verm. 'm' P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Chicago, Wilmington, & Vermilion Co P1 Subsidence In Reclamation
Chicago,wilmington & Vermilion H P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Chicago,wilmington & Vermilion H P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Eureka C.c, V-31 P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Eureka C.c, V-31 P2 Industrial/Residential Waste Reclamation Completed
Eureka C.c, V-31 P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Eureka C.c. Airshaft P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
M Mine Shaft P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Murphy & Keenan No.3 P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Pending
Murphy, Lindsky P2 Clogged Stream Lands Reclamation Pending
Murphy, Lindsky P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Pending
Murphy, Lindsky P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
N. Will Road P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Pending
Northern Il. Coal Corp-cinder Ridge P2 Clogged Stream Lands Reclamation Completed
Northern Il. Coal Corp-cinder Ridge P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Novy Road Highwall P1 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Pending
Oswald and Young P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Pending
Schmidt Road Shaft P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Shamrock Mine No.1 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Wilmington Washer P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending

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 Abandoned32 on register
  1. Bohac Sand Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Bohac'S Sand Pit · MSHA ID 1101040
    Abandoned
  2. Bolingbrook Quarry & Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Vulcan Constr. Materials, L.P. · MSHA ID 1102017
    Abandoned
  3. Bromberek's Flagstone Co.
    Surface metal/non-metal · Bromberek's Flagstone Co. · MSHA ID 1103005
    Abandoned
  4. CHANNAHON MATERIAL CO.
    Surface metal/non-metal · Channahon Material Company · MSHA ID 1102782
    Abandoned
  5. Channahon Sand & Gravel
    Surface metal/non-metal · Material Service Corp · MSHA ID 1103086
    Abandoned
  6. Fatlan Sand Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Fatlan Trucking Inc · MSHA ID 1101260
    Abandoned
  7. Heritage Material Incorporated
    Surface metal/non-metal · Heritage Material Inc · MSHA ID 1102894
    Abandoned
  8. Illinois Mining Corporation Yard 7
    Surface metal/non-metal · Illinois Mining Corporation · MSHA ID 1102939
    Abandoned
  9. Joliet - Plant #4
    Surface metal/non-metal · IM Crushing, LLC · MSHA ID 1103258
    Abandoned
  10. Lemont Quarry & Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Vulcan Constr. Materials, L.P. · MSHA ID 1101546
    Abandoned
  11. Lincoln Stone Quarry & Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Lincoln Stone Quarry Inc · MSHA ID 1100101
    Abandoned
  12. Lockport Shop
    Facility metal/non-metal · Hanson Material Service · MSHA ID 1103283
    Abandoned
  13. Meyer Material Company--Vicks Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Meyer Material Company · MSHA ID 1100398
    Abandoned
  14. No 2 Pit And Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Avery Gravel Company Inc · MSHA ID 1102340
    Abandoned
  15. PIT #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · C D T Landfill Corp · MSHA ID 1102881
    Abandoned
  16. Pit Run Sand & Gravel
    Surface metal/non-metal · Brown & Lambrecht Earthmovers Inc · MSHA ID 1102822
    Abandoned
  17. Plainfield Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Chicago Gravel Company · MSHA ID 1101073
    Abandoned
  18. Plainfield Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Elmhurst-Chicago Stone · MSHA ID 1102057
    Abandoned
  19. Plainfield Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Material Service Corp · MSHA ID 1102211
    Abandoned
  20. Plainfield Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Prairie Materials Sales Inc · MSHA ID 1102366
    Abandoned
  21. Plainfield Stone
    Surface metal/non-metal · Vulcan Construction Materials, LLC · MSHA ID 1102885
    Abandoned
  22. Plant One
    Surface metal/non-metal · Bolingbrook Mining Company LLC · MSHA ID 1103227
    Abandoned
  23. Rock Creek
    Surface metal/non-metal · IM Crushing, LLC · MSHA ID 1103289
    Abandoned
  24. Rockdale Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Joliet Sand & Gravel Company · MSHA ID 1102349
    Abandoned
  25. Romeo U/G Limestone Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Material Service Corp · MSHA ID 1102603
    Abandoned
  26. Sand Storm 620
    Surface metal/non-metal · H & H Stone LLC · MSHA ID 1103293
    Abandoned
  27. Star Sand & Gravel
    Surface metal/non-metal · Star Sand & Gravel Company · MSHA ID 1102726
    Abandoned
  28. Termar Industries
    Surface metal/non-metal · Termar Industries · MSHA ID 1102537
    Abandoned
  29. Termar Pit Number 1 And Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Temar Industries Aggregate Products · MSHA ID 1101084
    Abandoned
  30. Us Refractories Division
    Facility metal/non-metal · General Refractories Company · MSHA ID 1102628
    Abandoned
  31. Will County Generating Station
    Facility coal · Com Ed · MSHA ID 1103022
    Abandoned
  32. Yackley Pit And Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Yackley Material Service · MSHA ID 1102378
    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
Gravel Pit 77
Mine Dump 38
Gravel Pit 38
Quarry 24
Strip Mine 12
Disturbed Surface - Pit 11
Quarry 7
P2 Vertical Openings 7
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 5
P1 Vertical Openings 5
P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 5
Disturbed Surface 4
P3 Gobs 2
P2 Clogged Streams 2
P2 Clogged Stream Lands 2
Sand Pit 2
P2 Industrial/Residential Waste 1
Tailings - Undifferentiated 1
P1 Subsidence 1
P2 Portals 1
P1 Dangerous Highwalls 1
P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 1
Tailings - Pond 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.