Abandoned mines in Grand Traverse County, Michigan
Grand Traverse County, Michigan has 92 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1956–1985. MSHA's register carries 20 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.
Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Grand Traverse 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)
- 92
- Mine openings
- 0
- OSMRE problems unreclaimed
- 0
- MSHA mines marked abandoned
- 20
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22 23.9%Mines and surface workingslabelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
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70 76.1%Quarries, gravel and borrow pitsconstruction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
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54-Cedar Rapids -953Abandoned 2015-06-01Surface metal/non-metal · Elmer's Crane and Dozer, Inc. · MSHA ID 2003287
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Beeman Pit & MillAbandoned 1986-08-11Surface metal/non-metal · Beeman'S Trucking & Bulldozing Company · MSHA ID 2001059
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Cava AggregateAbandoned 1985-12-06Surface metal/non-metal · Cava Aggregates · MSHA ID 2000770
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Cedar Rapids IAbandoned 2019-05-09Surface metal/non-metal · Don Elliott Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 2002752
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County Pit No 1Abandoned 1982-08-30Surface metal/non-metal · Grand Traverse County Road Commission · MSHA ID 2001660
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Farmer Sand & Gravel IncAbandoned 2009-06-03Surface metal/non-metal · North Farm Pit · MSHA ID 2001060
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Grand Traverse County Road CommissionAbandoned 1984-10-03Surface metal/non-metal · Long Lake Gravel Inc · MSHA ID 2002684
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Guthrie Sand & GravelAbandoned 1982-09-20Surface metal/non-metal · Guthrie Construction Company Inc · MSHA ID 2002546
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Hilltop PitAbandoned 2007-02-12Surface metal/non-metal · Schworm Inc · MSHA ID 2003353
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JCI 1400- #955Abandoned 2015-11-04Surface metal/non-metal · Elmer'S Crane & Dozer Inc · MSHA ID 2002946
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KASSON PLANT #2Abandoned 2006-05-09Surface metal/non-metal · Kasson Sand & Gravel Company · MSHA ID 2002746
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Lippman PlantAbandoned 1995-04-28Surface metal/non-metal · Schworm Inc · MSHA ID 2002440
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Lippmann III #1039Abandoned 2025-04-01Surface metal/non-metal · Elmer's Crane and Dozer, Inc. · MSHA ID 2001333
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MCB 512RAbandoned 2007-04-01Surface metal/non-metal · Svec Construction · MSHA ID 2003261
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Molon Excavating/Paving IncorporatedAbandoned 1995-09-18Surface metal/non-metal · Molon Excavating/Paving Inc · MSHA ID 2002926
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Nordberg Senator Screen # 1036Abandoned 2014-04-15Surface metal/non-metal · Elmer's Crane and Dozer, Inc. · MSHA ID 2003186
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Power Screen TitanAbandoned 1994-05-16Surface metal/non-metal · Walton Contracting Inc · MSHA ID 2002876
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Schworm PitAbandoned 1984-05-18Surface metal/non-metal · Schworm Inc · MSHA ID 2002439
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Stedman PlantAbandoned 1995-04-28Surface metal/non-metal · Schworm Inc · MSHA ID 2002910
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Walton Pit & MillAbandoned 1986-08-11Surface metal/non-metal · Traverse Asphalt Paving Inc · MSHA ID 2002347
Status and date are as reported to MSHA by the operator. Each mine's own page carries its accident, citation and inspection record.
| Feature type | Features |
|---|---|
| Gravel Pit | 33 |
| Open Pit Mine or Quarry | 14 |
| Sand Pit | 13 |
| Gravel Pit | 10 |
| Open Pit Mine or Quarry | 8 |
| Sand Pit | 7 |
| Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated | 4 |
| Quarry | 1 |
| Borrow Pit | 1 |
| Quarry | 1 |
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.