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Abandoned mines › Pennsylvania
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Carbon County, Pennsylvania

Carbon County, Pennsylvania has 91 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1943–1993, including 11 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts); 1 of the features carry a name on the map. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 81 problems in the county, 33 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 29 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Carbon 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)
91
Mine openings
11
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
33
MSHA mines marked abandoned
29
1 features carry a name0 prospect pits12 quadrangle maps, published 1943–1993 81 OSMRE problems, 48 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
    30 17.4%
  2. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    38 22.1%
  3. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    41 23.8%
  4. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    16 9.3%
  5. Mills, tipples and facilities
    processing plants and hazardous structures
    4 2.3%
  6. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    42 24.4%
  7. Other
    symbols outside the classes above
    1 0.6%
Named features on the maps1 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Settling Basin Settling Pond area

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 problems81 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Beaver Brook South P1 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Beaver Brook South P1 Surface Burning Reclamation Completed
Beaver Brook South P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Pending
Beaver Brook South P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Beaver Brook South P3 Pits Reclamation Pending
Beaver Brook South P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Beaver Brook Southeast P1 Portals Reclamation Completed
Beaver Brook Southeast P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Beaver Brook Southeast P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Pending
Beaver Brook Southeast P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Pending
Beaver Brook Southeast P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Pending
Beaver Brook Southeast P3 Pits Reclamation Pending
Beaver Brook Southeast P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Beaver Brook Southeast PB 403(b) Water Supplies Reclamation Completed
Buck Mountain P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Buck Mountain P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Coxes Village East P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Coxes Village South P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
E.jeansville Village P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Lansford East P1 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Lansford East P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Pending
Lansford East P2 Portals In Reclamation
Lansford East P2 Underground Mine Fires Reclamation Pending
Lansford East P2 Vertical Openings In Reclamation
Lansford East P3 Equipment Facility In Reclamation
Lansford East P3 Spoil Area In Reclamation
Lansford North P2 Dangerous Highwalls In Reclamation
Lansford North P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Lansford North P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Lansford North P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Lansford North P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Completed
Lansford North P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Lansford Northeast P2 Dangerous Highwalls In Reclamation
Lehigh River Watershed P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Newquehoning Southwest P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
North Junedale P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
North Junedale P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
North Junedale P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
North Junedale P3 Pits Reclamation Pending
North Junedale P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
North Tresckow P1 Portals Reclamation Completed
North Tresckow P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
North Tresckow P2 Subsidence Reclamation Pending
North Tresckow P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
North Tresckow P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Pa - Carbon - Fea P1 Portals Reclamation Completed
Pa - Carbon - Fea P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Quakake Tunnel P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Quakake Tunnel P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Quakake Tunnel P2 Portals In Reclamation
Quakake Tunnel P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
Quakake Tunnel P3 Water Problems Reclamation Completed
Quakake Tunnel P3 Water Problems In Reclamation
Quakake Tunnel P3 Water Problems In Reclamation
Quakake Tunnel P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
South Beaver Meadows P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
South Beaver Meadows P2 Dangerous Impoundments Reclamation Completed
South Beaver Meadows P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
South Beaver Meadows P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
South Beaver Meadows P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
South Jeansville Village P1 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
South Jeansville Village P1 Surface Burning Reclamation Completed
South Jeansville Village P1 Underground Mine Fires In Reclamation
South Jeansville Village P2 Dangerous Highwalls In Reclamation
South Jeansville Village P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities In Reclamation
South Jeansville Village P3 High Wall Reclamation Pending
South Jeansville Village P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
South Jeansville Village P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Spring Mountain P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
Spring Mountain P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Tresckow South P1 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Tresckow South P1 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Tresckow South P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Tresckow South P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Tresckow South P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Tresckow South P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Tresckow South P2 Vertical Openings In Reclamation
Tresckow South P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Tresckow South P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Tresckow South P3 Pits In Reclamation
Tresckow South P3 Spoil Area 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 Abandoned29 on register
  1. Admiral Silt Dam
    Surface coal · Jeddo-Highland Coal Company · MSHA ID 3601743
    Abandoned
  2. Beaver Meadows Bank
    Surface coal · Jeddo-Highland Coal Company · MSHA ID 3604266
    Abandoned
  3. Coleraine Operation
    Facility coal · Rossi Excavating Co. · MSHA ID 3609176
    Abandoned
  4. East Side Sand And Gravel Company
    Surface metal/non-metal · John Popple Trucking Company · MSHA ID 3606406
    Abandoned
  5. Gamma No 4 Slope
    Underground coal · Kassa Coal Company · MSHA ID 3601739
    Abandoned
  6. Hauto Railroad Bed
    Surface coal · P V Industries · MSHA ID 3606047
    Abandoned
  7. Hauto Refuse Bank
    Facility coal · J E Z Inc · MSHA ID 3607060
    Abandoned
  8. Hauto Silt Bank
    Facility coal · Keon Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 3606982
    Abandoned
  9. Hauto Stockpile
    Facility coal · Hecla Machinery & Equipment Company · MSHA ID 3605563
    Abandoned
  10. Hazleton Site
    Facility coal · U. S. Operating Services Company · MSHA ID 3609052
    Abandoned
  11. JAMICO MATERIALS
    Surface metal/non-metal · Jamico Materials · MSHA ID 3608463
    Abandoned
  12. Jim Thorpe Rail Yard
    Surface coal · Parkway Anthracite Inc · MSHA ID 3605589
    Abandoned
  13. Junedale Bank
    Facility coal · Beltrami Enterprises Inc · MSHA ID 3605020
    Abandoned
  14. Kovatch 1
    Facility coal · K A M C · MSHA ID 3609641
    Abandoned
  15. Lansford No 12
    Facility coal · Devil'S Hole Inc · MSHA ID 3606823
    Abandoned
  16. Lansford No 6 Prep Plant
    Facility coal · Manbeck Dredging Company Inc · MSHA ID 3601764
    Abandoned
  17. Lansford Silt Dam
    Facility coal · Brook Contracting Corp · MSHA ID 3607082
    Abandoned
  18. Lansford Stripping
    Surface coal · Winton Coal Company · MSHA ID 3601773
    Abandoned
  19. LEHIGH ASPHALT PAVING & CONSTRUC
    Surface metal/non-metal · Lehigh Asphalt Paving & Construction Co Inc · MSHA ID 3604078
    Abandoned
  20. Little Italy Strippings
    Surface coal · Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company · MSHA ID 3601762
    Abandoned
  21. Nesquehoning & Hells Kitchen
    Surface coal · R L Suender Cont Engr Inc · MSHA ID 3601771
    Abandoned
  22. Nesquehoning Shops
    Surface coal · Fauzio Brothers · MSHA ID 3601758
    Abandoned
  23. No 9 Water Level Drift
    Underground coal · Lanscoal Mining Company Inc · MSHA ID 3601763
    Abandoned
  24. No. 6 Bank
    Surface coal · Devil's Hole, Inc. · MSHA ID 3609126
    Abandoned
  25. North American Refractories Little
    Surface metal/non-metal · North American Refractories Company Inc · MSHA ID 3600179
    Abandoned
  26. Primrose Highway
    Surface coal · J J & W Coal · MSHA ID 3609360
    Abandoned
  27. Spring Mountain Strip
    Surface coal · Atlantic Carbon Group, Inc. · MSHA ID 3610225
    Abandoned
  28. Tresekow No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · Tri-County Land & Coal Company · MSHA ID 3606307
    Abandoned
  29. Wharton Strip
    Surface coal · Kassa Coal Company · MSHA ID 3601740
    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 22
Gravel Pit 12
P2 Dangerous Highwalls 10
P3 Spoil Area 9
Adit 9
Disturbed Surface 8
P2 Portals 8
Quarry 7
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 6
P3 Pits 6
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 6
Sand Pit 6
P2 Vertical Openings 5
P1 Dangerous Highwalls 5
P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 5
P3 Water Problems 5
P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 4
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 4
P1 Portals 3
P1 Subsidence 3
P3 Equipment Facility 3
P1 Vertical Openings 3
Sand Pit 2
P1 Surface Burning 2
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 2
Gravel Pit 2
Mine Shaft 2
P2 Hazardous Water Bodies 2
P2 Underground Mine Fires 1
P3 Mine Opening 1
Settling Pond 1
P2 Dangerous Impoundments 1
P3 Gobs 1
PB 403(b) Water Supplies 1
P3 High Wall 1
P1 Underground Mine Fires 1
P2 Subsidence 1
Sand and Gravel Pit 1
Sand and Gravel Pit 1
Other counties in PennsylvaniaAll 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.