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Abandoned mines › Maine
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Hancock County, Maine

Hancock County, Maine has 421 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1904–1988, including 3 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts); 16 of the features carry a name on the map. MSHA's register carries 52 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Hancock 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)
421
Mine openings
3
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
0
MSHA mines marked abandoned
52
16 features carry a name0 prospect pits40 quadrangle maps, published 1904–1988 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
    3 0.7%
  2. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    43 10.2%
  3. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    370 87.9%
  4. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    5 1.2%
Named features on the maps16 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Annear Copper Mine Mine
Granite Quarries Quarry - Rock
Granite Quarries Quarry - Rock
Granite Quarries Quarry - Rock
Granite Quarries Quarry - Rock
Granite Quarries Quarry - Rock
Granite Quarries Quarry - Rock
Granite Quarries Quarry - Rock
Hall Quarry Quarry
Hall Quarry Quarry
Hall Quarry Quarry
Hall Quarry Quarry
Hall Quarry Quarry
Hall Quarry Quarry
Hall Quarry Quarry
Hall Quarry Quarry

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 Abandoned52 on register
  1. #8 PITT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Goodwin Trucking Inc · MSHA ID 1700675
    Abandoned
  2. Achiever 46 Screen
    Surface metal/non-metal · Wardwell Const. & Trucking Corp. · MSHA ID 1701006
    Abandoned
  3. Aurora Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Murray LaPlant Inc. · MSHA ID 1700974
    Abandoned
  4. B & H Pit & Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Doug Gott & Sons Inc · MSHA ID 1700462
    Abandoned
  5. BERT'S DIRT
    Surface metal/non-metal · BERT'S DIRT · MSHA ID 1700776
    Abandoned
  6. Blue Hill Mine And Mill
    Facility metal/non-metal · Kerramerican Inc · MSHA ID 1700188
    Abandoned
  7. Blue Hill Pit And Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Wendell Grindle · MSHA ID 1700156
    Abandoned
  8. Brian Billings Excavation LLC
    Surface metal/non-metal · Brian Billings Excavation LLC · MSHA ID 1700915
    Abandoned
  9. Brown's Meadow Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Sullivan Granite Co., LLC · MSHA ID 1700810
    Abandoned
  10. CEC Screen
    Surface metal/non-metal · Wardwell Construction & Trucking Corp. · MSHA ID 1700818
    Abandoned
  11. City Line Sand & Gravel
    Surface metal/non-metal · City Line Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 1700515
    Abandoned
  12. City Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · City Of Ellsworth · MSHA ID 1700339
    Abandoned
  13. Cole Pit/Fowler Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Frank O Fowler & Sons Inc · MSHA ID 1700699
    Abandoned
  14. Crotch Island Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Maine & New Hampshire Granite Corp · MSHA ID 1700564
    Abandoned
  15. Dean Young
    Surface metal/non-metal · Dean Young Forestry, Inc. · MSHA ID 1700990
    Abandoned
  16. Dedham Lane
    Surface metal/non-metal · RF Jordan & Sons Construction Inc · MSHA ID 1700989
    Abandoned
  17. Ellsworth Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Harold Mac Quinn Inc · MSHA ID 1700134
    Abandoned
  18. Ellsworth Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Dragon Products Company · MSHA ID 1700255
    Abandoned
  19. Extec Screener
    Surface metal/non-metal · John W Goodwin Jr · MSHA ID 1700887
    Abandoned
  20. FINLEY PORTABLE H430402
    Surface metal/non-metal · R.F. JORDAN & SONS INC · MSHA ID 1700742
    Abandoned
  21. Garland Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Paul O'Halloran Inc · MSHA ID 1700375
    Abandoned
  22. Green Lake Pit And Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Maine Department Of Transportation · MSHA ID 1700410
    Abandoned
  23. Hall Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Freshwater Stone · MSHA ID 1700867
    Abandoned
  24. Hancock Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Eurovia Atlantic Coast LLC · MSHA ID 1700554
    Abandoned
  25. HANCOCK PLANT
    Surface metal/non-metal · J P Berzinis Inc · MSHA ID 1700604
    Abandoned
  26. Hooper Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Conary Brothers Construction Company Inc · MSHA ID 1700377
    Abandoned
  27. JCI Track Screen
    Surface metal/non-metal · The Lane Construction Corporation · MSHA ID 1700870
    Abandoned
  28. Jordan Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Herbert Jordan · MSHA ID 1700978
    Abandoned
  29. Kleeman Track Jaw
    Surface metal/non-metal · Eurovia Atlantic Coast LLC · MSHA ID 1700857
    Abandoned
  30. Lamoine Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Miro Farms Inc · MSHA ID 1700461
    Abandoned
  31. Mackenzie Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Freshwater Stone & Brickwork, Inc. · MSHA ID 1701079
    Abandoned
  32. Masaba Closed Circuit Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Eurovia Atlantic Coast LLC · MSHA ID 1700856
    Abandoned
  33. Mill Road Pit & Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Downeast Contracting Corp · MSHA ID 1700411
    Abandoned
  34. Portable #50 Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Lane Construction Corp · MSHA ID 1700592
    Abandoned
  35. Portable Coleman Screen #69345036
    Surface metal/non-metal · Harold Mac Quinn Inc · MSHA ID 1700565
    Abandoned
  36. Portable Eagle Crusher
    Surface metal/non-metal · Harold Mac Quinn Inc · MSHA ID 1700578
    Abandoned
  37. Portable Lord Screen C-300
    Surface metal/non-metal · Richard J King Inc · MSHA ID 1700259
    Abandoned
  38. Portable Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Town Of Bucksport · MSHA ID 1700361
    Abandoned
  39. Portable Plant #2 Read Screen RD90
    Surface metal/non-metal · WARDWELL CONTRACTING (DIV. OF THE LANE CONST. CORP · MSHA ID 1700724
    Abandoned
  40. PORTABLE PLANT #3 READ SCREEN
    Surface metal/non-metal · WARDWELL CONTRACTING (DIV. OF THE LANE CONST. CORP · MSHA ID 1700723
    Abandoned
  41. PORTABLE PLANT NO. 1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Kenneth H Tracy & Sons · MSHA ID 1700620
    Abandoned
  42. PORTABLE REED SCREEN #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Stanley G Saunders Construction Inc · MSHA ID 1700710
    Abandoned
  43. Portable Unit #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Irving Wilbur & Son Inc · MSHA ID 1700398
    Abandoned
  44. Read Portable Screen
    Surface metal/non-metal · Harold MacQuinn Inc. · MSHA ID 1700860
    Abandoned
  45. Settlement Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Maine & New Hampshire Granite Corp · MSHA ID 1700005
    Abandoned
  46. Stratton Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Hayward Clarke · MSHA ID 1700394
    Abandoned
  47. Sunset Avenue Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Fletcher Granite Co · MSHA ID 1700556
    Abandoned
  48. Telsmith Cone Crusher
    Surface metal/non-metal · Wardwell Const. & Trucking Corp. · MSHA ID 1700913
    Abandoned
  49. Terex/Pegson Crusher
    Surface metal/non-metal · Eurovia Atlantic Coast LLC · MSHA ID 1700829
    Abandoned
  50. Thomas 400 Screen
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mike Salisbury Construction Inc · MSHA ID 1700902
    Abandoned
  51. Wardwell Portable Plt #1 S/N 052306
    Surface metal/non-metal · Eurovia Atlantic Coast LLC · MSHA ID 1700725
    Abandoned
  52. WINTER HARBOR PIT AND MILL
    Surface metal/non-metal · A R Whitten & Son Inc · MSHA ID 1700113
    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 274
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 41
Quarry 37
Gravel Pit 31
Quarry - Rock 8
Borrow Pit 8
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 5
Tailings - Pond 4
Sand Pit 3
Adit 2
Mine Shaft 1
Mine Dump 1
Quarry 1
Sand and Gravel Pit 1
Borrow Pit 1
Mine 1
Disturbed Surface 1
Sand Pit 1
Other counties in MaineAll 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.