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Abandoned mines › Tennessee
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Hamilton County, Tennessee

Hamilton County, Tennessee has 277 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1935–1988, including 30 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts); 2 of the features carry a name on the map. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 49 problems in the county, 35 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 22 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Hamilton 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)
277
Mine openings
30
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
35
MSHA mines marked abandoned
22
2 features carry a name0 prospect pits17 quadrangle maps, published 1935–1988 49 OSMRE problems, 14 reclaimed 3 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
    48 14.7%
  2. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    196 60.1%
  3. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    23 7.1%
  4. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    35 10.7%
  5. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    24 7.4%
Named features on the maps2 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Barnes Mine Open Pit Mine
Mystic Caverns 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 problems49 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Bakewell Gulf P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Pending
Bakewell Gulf P3 High Wall Reclamation Pending
Bakewell Gulf P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Board Camp Creek P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Pending
Board Camp Creek P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
Board Camp Creek P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Board Camp Creek P3 Bench Reclamation Completed
Board Camp Creek P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Board Camp Creek P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Chickamauga Creek P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
Fruendenberg Creek P1 Portals In Reclamation
Fruendenberg Creek P2 Dangerous Highwalls In Reclamation
Fruendenberg Creek P2 Portals In Reclamation
Fruendenberg Creek P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Fruendenberg Creek P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Hogskin Branch P1 Portals Reclamation Pending
Hogskin Branch P2 Polluted Water: Agricultural & Industrial In Reclamation
Hogskin Branch P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Leggett Road P1 Portals Reclamation Completed
Leggett Road P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Little Soddy Creek P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
Little Soddy Creek P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
Little Soddy Creek P3 Pits Reclamation Pending
Little Soddy Creek P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Little Soddy Creek P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Mcgill Gulf P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Pending
Mcgill Gulf P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
Posey Point P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
Posey Point P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Pending
Pre 87 P1 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Pre 87 P1 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
Retro-hughes Road P2 Dangerous Highwalls In Reclamation
Retro-hughes Road P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Pending
Retro-hughes Road P3 Pits In Reclamation
Richey Ridge P2 Dangerous Highwalls In Reclamation
Richey Ridge P2 Hazardous Water Bodies In Reclamation
Richey Ridge P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
Richey Ridge P3 High Wall In Reclamation
Richey Ridge P3 Pits In Reclamation
Roberts Gap P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
Roberts Gap P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
South Soddy Creek P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
South Soddy Creek P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
South Soddy Creek P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
South Soddy Creek P3 Bench Reclamation Pending
South Soddy Creek P3 Haul Road Reclamation Pending
South Soddy Creek P3 High Wall Reclamation Pending
South Soddy Creek P3 Pits Reclamation Pending
South Soddy Creek P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending

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 Abandoned22 on register
  1. Chattanooga Dock- Division No 1
    Facility coal · Energy Engineering Inc · MSHA ID 4002379
    Abandoned
  2. Clay Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Signal Mountain Cement Company · MSHA ID 4000042
    Abandoned
  3. D M No 1
    Underground coal · Manpower Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 4002569
    Abandoned
  4. D M No 7
    Underground coal · M C Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 4002369
    Abandoned and Sealed
  5. Deep Down No 1
    Underground coal · Deep Down Mining Inc · MSHA ID 4002272
    Abandoned and Sealed
  6. Flores Quarry #3
    Surface metal/non-metal · Flores Stone LLC · MSHA ID 4003575
    Abandoned
  7. Friendsville Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Vulcan Constr. Materials, L.P. · MSHA ID 4002892
    Abandoned
  8. General Shale Prod Corp Chattanooga
    Surface metal/non-metal · General Shale Products Corp · MSHA ID 4000190
    Abandoned
  9. Graysville No 1
    Underground coal · Richland Corp · MSHA ID 4001792
    Abandoned
  10. Graysville No 1
    Underground coal · Southeastern Mining Company · MSHA ID 4001810
    Abandoned
  11. Kristy Leigh No 1
    Underground coal · Innovative Development Of Energy Inc · MSHA ID 4002661
    Abandoned and Sealed
  12. Mine No 1
    Underground coal · Signal Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 4002130
    Abandoned
  13. No 1 Mine
    Underground coal · M C Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 4001800
    Abandoned
  14. No 1 Mine
    Underground coal · M C Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 4002232
    Abandoned
  15. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · Coffee Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 4001936
    Abandoned
  16. No 1 Tipple
    Facility coal · Dayton Mining Company · MSHA ID 4002365
    Abandoned
  17. No 2 Mine
    Underground coal · M C Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 4002289
    Abandoned
  18. No 2 Strip
    Surface coal · Metzler Coal Company · MSHA ID 4000716
    Abandoned
  19. No 5 Strip
    Surface coal · Dayton Mining Company · MSHA ID 4002414
    Abandoned
  20. No 8 Strip
    Surface coal · Russell Mining Company · MSHA ID 4000715
    Abandoned
  21. Northwest S M No 7
    Surface coal · Northwest Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 4002442
    Abandoned
  22. RIVER STREET SAND & GRAVEL
    Surface metal/non-metal · Vulcan Constr. Materials, L.P. · MSHA ID 4000788
    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
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 116
Strip Mine 55
Adit 30
Tailings - Pond 17
P2 Portals 13
Strip Mine 12
Settling Pond 11
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 8
Quarry 7
P2 Dangerous Highwalls 6
P3 Pits 6
Open Pit Mine 5
P3 Spoil Area 5
Quarry 4
Sand Pit 4
Clay Pit 4
P3 High Wall 3
P2 Hazardous Water Bodies 3
P1 Portals 3
P3 Bench 2
Gravel Pit 2
Clay Pit 1
P2 Polluted Water: Agricultural & Industrial 1
P3 Equipment Facility 1
P1 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 1
P2 Vertical Openings 1
P3 Gobs 1
P1 Hazardous Water Bodies 1
P1 Vertical Openings 1
Chert Pit 1
P3 Haul Road 1
Other counties in TennesseeAll 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.