Abandoned mines in Cascade County, Montana

1. Mine openings

   shafts, adits, air shafts, portals and vertical openings: the ways into underground workings
   346 33.1%
2. Prospect pits and trenches

   shallow exploration diggings that never became a mine
   162 15.5%
3. Mines and surface workings

   labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
   2 0.2%
4. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits

   construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
   259 24.8%
5. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob

   what mining left above ground
   111 10.6%
6. Mills, tipples and facilities

   processing plants and hazardous structures
   34 3.3%
7. Other reclamation problems

   highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
   131 12.5%

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.

…and 187 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.

1. 63-8190

   Surface metal/non-metal · Montana Department Of Transportation · MSHA ID 2402037
   Abandoned 2002-08-26
2. Atlas Group, Inc.

   Surface metal/non-metal · Atlas Group, Inc. · MSHA ID 2402735
   Abandoned 2019-02-05
3. Big Bend Ranch

   Surface metal/non-metal · Thompson Excavating, Inc. · MSHA ID 2402294
   Abandoned 2002-08-08
4. Bonser Construction

   Surface metal/non-metal · Bonser Contruction · MSHA ID 2402368
   Abandoned 2006-07-20
5. Bowman Ranch Pit

   Surface metal/non-metal · Whiskey Bent, Inc. · MSHA ID 2402810
   Abandoned 2026-08-06
6. Boyles Brothers Drill Site

   Surface metal/non-metal · Boyles Brothers · MSHA ID 2401391
   Abandoned 1978-06-13
7. Cascade Quarry

   Surface metal/non-metal · Mortensen Construction Company · MSHA ID 2401536
   Abandoned 1982-08-18
8. Connors Drill Site

   Surface metal/non-metal · Connors Drilling Inc · MSHA ID 2401392
   Abandoned 1978-06-13
9. Eden Ridge Pit

   Surface metal/non-metal · Pioneer Ambitions, LLC DBA Pioneer Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 2402694
   Abandoned 2018-05-01
10. Flood Pit

    Surface metal/non-metal · Black Eagle Paving Inc · MSHA ID 2401409
    Abandoned 1987-04-30
11. FLOOD PIT (WASHING PLANT)

    Surface metal/non-metal · United Materials Of Great Falls Inc · MSHA ID 2402164
    Abandoned 2002-08-29
12. Florence Queen

    Underground metal/non-metal · Hecla Mining Company · MSHA ID 2401710
    Abandoned 1985-01-02
13. Hilde Portable Crusher #1

    Surface metal/non-metal · Hilde Construction Company Inc · MSHA ID 2401421
    Abandoned 1990-06-04
14. Hilde Wash Plant

    Surface metal/non-metal · Hilde Construction Company Inc · MSHA ID 2401503
    Abandoned 1983-08-03
15. Hill Pit

    Surface metal/non-metal · Travis Johnson Ent. Inc. · MSHA ID 2402589
    Abandoned 2017-05-02
16. Hoover Creek Quarry

    Surface metal/non-metal · Montana Highway Department · MSHA ID 2401404
    Abandoned 1980-01-09
17. Hutterites Cascade Colony Quarry

    Surface metal/non-metal · L A Construction Inc · MSHA ID 2401976
    Abandoned 1993-04-05
18. Johnson Sand & Gravel Pit

    Surface metal/non-metal · United Materials Of Great Falls Inc · MSHA ID 2400480
    Abandoned 1986-01-15
19. Kraus Pit

    Surface metal/non-metal · Kraus Construction Inc · MSHA ID 2401389
    Abandoned 1992-01-06
20. Lewis Portable Crusher

    Surface metal/non-metal · Lewis Construction Company · MSHA ID 2401876
    Abandoned 1993-05-06
21. MC IVER

    Surface metal/non-metal · Great Falls Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 2402046
    Abandoned 2000-07-10
22. Mcintyre Portable Crusher No 1

    Surface metal/non-metal · Mc Intyre Construction Company · MSHA ID 2401405
    Abandoned 1985-07-17
23. Monarch Stone Quarry

    Surface metal/non-metal · Forzley Sales Company · MSHA ID 2400810
    Abandoned 1978-07-10
24. MONTANA SAND & GRAVEL PORTABLE #

    Surface metal/non-metal · United Materials Of Great Falls Inc · MSHA ID 2401977
    Abandoned 2000-10-27
25. Mortensen Portable Crusher

    Surface metal/non-metal · Mortensen Construction Company · MSHA ID 2400436
    Abandoned 1981-07-30
26. Mortensen Portable Crusher

    Surface metal/non-metal · Mortensen Construction Company · MSHA ID 2401398
    Abandoned 1980-11-14
27. Mortensen Portable Crusher 2

    Surface metal/non-metal · Mortensen Construction Company · MSHA ID 2401403
    Abandoned 1979-11-19
28. Neihart (Star) Mill

    Facility metal/non-metal · Westgate Mining & Construction Inc · MSHA ID 2401533
    Abandoned 1984-07-18
29. Newman Pit

    Surface metal/non-metal · Horner Construction Company · MSHA ID 2401388
    Abandoned 1979-08-28
30. OPEN BUCKLE PIT

    Surface metal/non-metal · Thompson Excavating · MSHA ID 2402045
    Abandoned 1997-12-24
31. Ponderosa

    Underground metal/non-metal · Medco Inc · MSHA ID 2401694
    Abandoned 1982-10-27
32. Ponderosa Mines

    Underground metal/non-metal · Med-Pro · MSHA ID 2400274
    Abandoned 1984-07-18
33. Portable Crusher #1

    Surface metal/non-metal · Confederated Contractors Inc · MSHA ID 2401781
    Abandoned 1988-08-16
34. Portable Crusher #1

    Surface metal/non-metal · United Materials Of Great Falls Inc · MSHA ID 2401796
    Abandoned 1988-08-24
35. Read Challenger MDL #22R176

    Surface metal/non-metal · Shumaker Trucking & Excavating Contractors Inc · MSHA ID 2402374
    Abandoned 2008-07-15
36. SAVOY QUARRY

    Surface metal/non-metal · Walter Savoy · MSHA ID 2401339
    Abandoned 2007-09-20
37. Screen Plant #2

    Surface metal/non-metal · United Materials Of Great Falls Inc · MSHA ID 2402055
    Abandoned 1994-12-22
38. Sheryl Ann Incorporated

    Surface metal/non-metal · Sheryl Ann Incorporated · MSHA ID 2402701
    Abandoned 2016-12-08
39. Sierra Rock & Dirt Inc

    Surface metal/non-metal · Sierra Rock & Dirt, Inc. · MSHA ID 2402115
    Abandoned 2017-05-02
40. Sletten Crushing

    Surface metal/non-metal · Sletten Construction Company · MSHA ID 2401759
    Abandoned 1986-07-30
41. Sletten Pug Mill

    Surface metal/non-metal · Sletten Construction Company · MSHA ID 2401979
    Abandoned 1995-08-30
42. STANISN PIT

    Surface metal/non-metal · Dickman Excavation · MSHA ID 2401760
    Abandoned 2017-08-08
43. Star Mine

    Underground metal/non-metal · Westgate Mining & Construction Inc · MSHA ID 2400748
    Abandoned 1982-08-03
44. Thompson Pit

    Surface metal/non-metal · Thompson Excavating, Inc · MSHA ID 2401843
    Abandoned 2006-04-18
45. Vaughn Pit

    Surface metal/non-metal · Lewis Construction Company · MSHA ID 2400471
    Abandoned 1993-05-06
46. VIC'S PORTABLE CRUSHER

    Surface metal/non-metal · Vic Tindall Construction · MSHA ID 2401814
    Abandoned 2001-06-14
47. VOLK

    Surface metal/non-metal · Volk Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 2402073
    Abandoned 2005-10-01
48. Zook #1

    Surface metal/non-metal · Zook Brothers Construction Company · MSHA ID 2401429
    Abandoned 1982-07-29
49. Zook #2

    Surface metal/non-metal · Zook Brothers Construction Company · MSHA ID 2401430
    Abandoned 1982-08-17

Status and date are as reported to MSHA by the operator. Each mine's own page carries its accident, citation and inspection record.

• Madison County 3,766
• Silver Bow County 2,397
• Jefferson County 1,973
• Lewis and Clark County 1,862
• Broadwater County 1,418
• Beaverhead County 1,378
• Carbon County 769
• Powell County 741
• Granite County 719
• Deer Lodge County 688
• Fergus County 550
• Meagher County 440

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.