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Abandoned mines › Indiana
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Vermillion County, Indiana

Vermillion County, Indiana has 68 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1951–1986, including 5 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts). OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 64 problems in the county, 10 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 16 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Vermillion 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)
68
Mine openings
5
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
10
MSHA mines marked abandoned
16
0 features carry a name0 prospect pits8 quadrangle maps, published 1951–1986 64 OSMRE problems, 54 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
    32 24.2%
  2. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    37 28.0%
  3. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    26 19.7%
  4. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    10 7.6%
  5. Mills, tipples and facilities
    processing plants and hazardous structures
    5 3.8%
  6. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    22 16.7%
OSMRE abandoned mine land problems64 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Barnes P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Completed
Black Diamond P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Black Diamond P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Black Diamond P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Black Diamond P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Brick Plant - Vermillion P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Pending
Brick Plant - Vermillion P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
Brick Plant - Vermillion P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Clinton Gob P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Clinton Gob P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Clinton Gob P3 Slurry Reclamation Completed
Copperhead Cave P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Crown Hill P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Pending
Crown Hill P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Crown Hill #20 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Crown Hill #4 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Crown Hill #4 P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Electric Shovel P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Electric Shovel P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Electric Shovel P3 Slurry Reclamation Completed
Geneva Hills Borehole P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Geneva Hills Mulligan P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Geneva Hills Subsidence P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Geneva Hills Subsidence P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Geneva Hills Subsidence P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Highland P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
In - Vermillion - Fea P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Interstate P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Interstate P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
John Paul Vo P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Kanizer P2 Dangerous Highwalls In Reclamation
Keller #1 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Kilgore P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
Morgan P2 Subsidence In Reclamation
North Creek P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Oak Hill #20 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Price P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
Railroad Site P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Railroad Site P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Rangeline Subsidence P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Richard Reed P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Richard Wright - Strc&d P3 Water Problems Reclamation Completed
Riggens/franiak Highwall P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Pending
Rozina Subsidence P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Russell Subsidence P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Sandy Town P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Sandy Town P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Sandy Town P3 Slurry Reclamation Completed
Sandy Town P3 Water Problems Reclamation Completed
Sandy Town P3 Water Problems Reclamation Completed
Shaw Subsidence P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Sportland Park - Strc&d P1 Polluted Water: Human Consumption Reclamation Completed
Sportland Park - Strc&d P2 Polluted Water: Human Consumption Reclamation Completed
Sportland Park Subsidence P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
State P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
State P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
State P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
State P3 Industrial/Residential Waste Reclamation Completed
Thompson Hill Subsidence P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
West Clinton P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
West Dana Shaft P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
West Dana Shaft P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
William Miller P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
William Miller P3 Gobs 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 Abandoned16 on register
  1. Alver Strip Mine
    Surface coal · Alver Materials Corp · MSHA ID 1201420
    Abandoned
  2. Ayrcat Strip
    Surface coal · Amax Coal Company · MSHA ID 1102350
    Abandoned
  3. Cayuga Sand & Gravel Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Vermillion County Highway Department · MSHA ID 1200501
    Abandoned
  4. Cayuga Shale Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colonial Brick Corp · MSHA ID 1200248
    Abandoned
  5. CLINTON SAND
    Surface metal/non-metal · Martin Marietta Aggregates · MSHA ID 1200707
    Abandoned
  6. D Robertson Gravel Co Inc
    Surface metal/non-metal · D Robertson Gravel Co Inc · MSHA ID 1201871
    Abandoned
  7. D Robertson Gravel Company Inc
    Surface metal/non-metal · D Robertson Gravel Company Inc · MSHA ID 1200597
    Abandoned
  8. Dickerson Pit And Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Engineering Construction Corp · MSHA ID 1201522
    Abandoned
  9. Perrysville Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mid-America Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 1201617
    Abandoned
  10. Perrysville Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mid America Sand & Gravel Co. · MSHA ID 1202331
    Abandoned
  11. Ramsey Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Vermillion County Highway Department · MSHA ID 1201614
    Abandoned
  12. Roskovensky Aggregates, LLC
    Surface metal/non-metal · Roskovensky Aggregates LLC · MSHA ID 1202310
    Abandoned
  13. Summit Grove Sand & Gravel Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Vermillion County Highway Department · MSHA ID 1201524
    Abandoned
  14. Trousdale Mine
    Surface coal · Trousdale Coal Company · MSHA ID 1201553
    Abandoned
  15. Universal
    Surface coal · Peabody Coal Company · MSHA ID 1200435
    Abandoned
  16. Universal Mine (Strip)
    Surface coal · Peabody Coal Company · MSHA ID 1200437
    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
Strip Mine 34
P2 Vertical Openings 18
P3 Gobs 9
Clay Pit 9
Gravel Pit 8
P1 Vertical Openings 8
P3 Equipment Facility 6
P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 5
Gravel Pit 5
P3 Water Problems 4
P3 Slurry 3
Disturbed Surface 3
Mine Shaft 3
P2 Subsidence 2
Adit 2
Sand and Gravel Pit 2
Clay Pit 2
P2 Dangerous Highwalls 2
P2 Portals 1
P3 Industrial/Residential Waste 1
P1 Polluted Water: Human Consumption 1
P2 Polluted Water: Human Consumption 1
P1 Subsidence 1
P3 Mine Opening 1
P3 Spoil Area 1
Other counties in IndianaAll 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.