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Abandoned mines › Montana
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Yellowstone County, Montana

Yellowstone County, Montana has 89 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1956–1980, including 1 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts) and 1 prospect pits; 1 of the features carry a name on the map. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 52 problems in the county, all of them reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 36 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Yellowstone 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)
89
Mine openings
1
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
0
MSHA mines marked abandoned
36
1 features carry a name1 prospect pits25 quadrangle maps, published 1956–1980 52 OSMRE problems, 52 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
    25 17.7%
  2. Prospect pits and trenches
    shallow exploration diggings that never became a mine
    1 0.7%
  3. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    16 11.3%
  4. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    71 50.4%
  5. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    8 5.7%
  6. Mills, tipples and facilities
    processing plants and hazardous structures
    3 2.1%
  7. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    17 12.1%
Named features on the maps1 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Holland Mine Adit

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.

OSMRE abandoned mine land problems52 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Anderson P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Anderson P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Antelope P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Antelope P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Antelope P2 Surface Burning Reclamation Completed
Berten P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Berten P2 Surface Burning Reclamation Completed
Berten P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Bly Fire P1 Surface Burning Reclamation Completed
Bly Fire P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Bly Fire P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Bn 25 Fire P1 Surface Burning Reclamation Completed
Bn 25 Fire P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Broadview P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Charter Mine Fire P2 Underground Mine Fires Reclamation Completed
Conover P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Gildroy P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Holland Mine P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Holland Mine P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Horsky P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Janich 17 Lower P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Janich 17 Lower P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Janich 17 Upper P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Janich 18 P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Janich 18 P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Janich 20 Fire P2 Underground Mine Fires Reclamation Completed
Janich 20 Lower P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Janich 20 New Adit P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Janich 20 Upper P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Janich 20 Upper P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Janich 20/29 P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Janich 29 P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Jap P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Jap P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Jap P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Kingman P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Majerus P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Old Divide Road P1 Surface Burning Reclamation Completed
Old Divide Road P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Old Divide Road P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Old Divide Road P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Old Divide Road P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Shepherd P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Shepherd P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Shepherd #1 Mine Fire P2 Underground Mine Fires Reclamation Completed
Shepherd Mine P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Shepherd Mine P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Shepherd Mine P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Sholz P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
State 36 Fire P1 Surface Burning Reclamation Completed
State 36 Fire P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Wade P2 Subsidence 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 Abandoned36 on register
  1. A.J. GRAVEL
    Surface metal/non-metal · A J Gravel & Trucking · MSHA ID 2402206
    Abandoned
  2. Billings Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Midland O'Leary Inc · MSHA ID 2400781
    Abandoned
  3. C&S Portable Crusher
    Surface metal/non-metal · C&S Construction Inc. · MSHA ID 2402220
    Abandoned
  4. Cedar Rapids Cone Crusher
    Surface metal/non-metal · C & S Construction Inc · MSHA ID 2402577
    Abandoned
  5. Crusher No 1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Kiewit Western Company · MSHA ID 2401394
    Abandoned
  6. Flack N Flack Const Inc
    Surface metal/non-metal · Flack N Flack Const Inc · MSHA ID 2402274
    Abandoned
  7. GARDNER PORTABLE
    Surface metal/non-metal · Arg Sand & Gravel Inc · MSHA ID 2402086
    Abandoned
  8. H L OSTERMILLER CONST INC (CRUSH
    Surface metal/non-metal · H L Ostermiller Construction Inc · MSHA ID 2401947
    Abandoned
  9. H L Ostermiller Const. Inc
    Surface metal/non-metal · H L Ostermiller Construction Inc · MSHA ID 2401689
    Abandoned
  10. KALISPELL CRUSHER
    Surface metal/non-metal · JTL Group, Inc. · MSHA ID 2401685
    Abandoned
  11. KLE 1
    Surface metal/non-metal · KLE Construction, LLC · MSHA ID 2402780
    Abandoned
  12. Krug Sand & Gravel
    Surface metal/non-metal · Krug & Sons LLC · MSHA ID 2400470
    Abandoned
  13. Laurel Sand & Gravel
    Surface metal/non-metal · Laurel Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 2402496
    Abandoned
  14. Medina Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Concrete Materials of Montana LLC · MSHA ID 2402266
    Abandoned
  15. Metso Crusher
    Surface metal/non-metal · C&S Construction, Inc. · MSHA ID 2402442
    Abandoned
  16. Meyer Construction Crusher #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Meyer Construction Company · MSHA ID 2401279
    Abandoned
  17. MOBILE OPERATION
    Surface metal/non-metal · JBF CO/JB FARLEY · MSHA ID 2402663
    Abandoned
  18. Mossmain Sand & Gravel Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mossmain Industrial Park Inc · MSHA ID 2401402
    Abandoned
  19. Myers Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · DWM Builders LLC · MSHA ID 2402598
    Abandoned
  20. Neibauer Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Northern Line Layers, Inc. · MSHA ID 2402262
    Abandoned
  21. Neibawer Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Northern Line Layers Inc · MSHA ID 2402153
    Abandoned
  22. Plainfeather
    Surface metal/non-metal · Lovell Clay Products Company · MSHA ID 2400768
    Abandoned
  23. Plant Mix Crusher
    Surface metal/non-metal · Empire Sand & Gravel Company Inc · MSHA ID 2401359
    Abandoned
  24. Portable Screen
    Surface metal/non-metal · JTL Group, Inc. Missoula · MSHA ID 2402326
    Abandoned
  25. Rock Bottom #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · David Ruff · MSHA ID 2402398
    Abandoned
  26. Screen Plant #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Yellowstone County Road Department · MSHA ID 2402260
    Abandoned
  27. Sidney Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Fisher Sand & Gravel Company · MSHA ID 2401625
    Abandoned
  28. Studer Crusher No 1
    Surface metal/non-metal · R J Studer & Sons · MSHA ID 2401445
    Abandoned
  29. The Lovell Clay Products Co Billing
    Facility metal/non-metal · Lovell Clay Products Company · MSHA ID 2400764
    Abandoned
  30. Tract 3 / Mcloskey
    Surface metal/non-metal · Aggregate Resources, Inc. · MSHA ID 2402738
    Abandoned
  31. upper mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · L.A. Rock · MSHA ID 2402389
    Abandoned
  32. Veteran Earthworks Inc.
    Surface metal/non-metal · Veteran Earthworks Inc. · MSHA ID 2402661
    Abandoned
  33. Weaver Portable
    Surface metal/non-metal · Weaver Stone Products Company · MSHA ID 2401821
    Abandoned
  34. WEST END SAND & GRAVEL
    Surface metal/non-metal · West End Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 2402158
    Abandoned
  35. Western Fuel Portable
    Surface metal/non-metal · Western Fuel Inc · MSHA ID 2401785
    Abandoned
  36. Wuertz Crusher
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gene Wuertz Construction Inc · MSHA ID 2401555
    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 45
P2 Portals 19
Gravel Pit 17
Disturbed Surface 10
P3 Spoil Area 8
P2 Subsidence 8
Disturbed Surface - Pit 6
P2 Vertical Openings 5
P1 Surface Burning 4
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 4
P2 Underground Mine Fires 3
P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 3
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 3
P2 Surface Burning 2
Clay Pit 1
Adit 1
Prospect Pit 1
Borrow Pit 1
Other counties in MontanaAll 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.