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Abandoned mines › Texas
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Hidalgo County, Texas

Hidalgo County, Texas has 269 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1940–2002, including 40 prospect pits; 1 of the features carry a name on the map. MSHA's register carries 52 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Hidalgo 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)
269
Mine openings
0
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
0
MSHA mines marked abandoned
52
1 features carry a name40 prospect pits19 quadrangle maps, published 1940–2002 0 MSHA mines abandoned and sealed
What the features are
  1. Prospect pits and trenches
    shallow exploration diggings that never became a mine
    40 14.9%
  2. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    16 5.9%
  3. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    213 79.2%
Named features on the maps1 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Joya Gravel Pit Gravel Pit

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.

MSHA-registered mines with status Abandoned52 on register
  1. 4 M Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · 4 M Materials · MSHA ID 4102153
    Abandoned
  2. Bar 12 Excavating Company
    Surface metal/non-metal · Bar 12 Excavating Company · MSHA ID 4103316
    Abandoned
  3. Beck Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Valley Caliche Products Inc · MSHA ID 4101477
    Abandoned
  4. BELL PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Martin Marietta Materials Southwest Ltd · MSHA ID 4103828
    Abandoned
  5. Chapa Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Hidalgo County Highway Department · MSHA ID 4102148
    Abandoned
  6. Crow Materials Incorporated
    Surface metal/non-metal · Crow Materials Inc · MSHA ID 4101483
    Abandoned
  7. Garcia Materials
    Surface metal/non-metal · Garcia Materials · MSHA ID 4104930
    Abandoned
  8. Garza Caliche Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Garza Caliche Pit · MSHA ID 4103350
    Abandoned
  9. Gomez Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · South Texas Construction Company · MSHA ID 4101800
    Abandoned
  10. Gutierrez Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Val-Tex Asphalt & Environmental Inc · MSHA ID 4104321
    Abandoned
  11. Havana Sand & Gravel
    Surface metal/non-metal · Havana Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 4103782
    Abandoned
  12. J Ramon Caliche
    Surface metal/non-metal · J Ramon Caliche · MSHA ID 4103625
    Abandoned
  13. J W P Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Jim Williams Paving Inc · MSHA ID 4103086
    Abandoned
  14. J-2 Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mission Paving Company Inc · MSHA ID 4102802
    Abandoned
  15. Ja 490 & Company Caliche Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Ja 490 & Company · MSHA ID 4103302
    Abandoned
  16. Keller Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Val-Tex Ashpalt & Envrionmental Recycling Inc. · MSHA ID 4104405
    Abandoned
  17. La Calichera Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Tres Palacios Dirt, Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 4104648
    Abandoned
  18. La Noria Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Val-Tex Ashpalt & Envrionmental Recycling Inc. · MSHA ID 4104362
    Abandoned
  19. LINN PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Linn Materials LLC · MSHA ID 4104165
    Abandoned
  20. Martinez Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Texan Dump Trucks · MSHA ID 4103642
    Abandoned
  21. McCook South Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Linn Materials, LLC · MSHA ID 4104367
    Abandoned
  22. Mobil Crusher #1-1038
    Surface metal/non-metal · Val-Tex Asphalt Environmental Inc. · MSHA ID 4104679
    Abandoned
  23. Mobil Crusher #2-1011
    Surface metal/non-metal · Val-Tex Asphalt Environmental Inc. · MSHA ID 4104685
    Abandoned
  24. Mobil Crusher #6-1010
    Surface metal/non-metal · Val-Tex Asphalt Environmental Inc. · MSHA ID 4104741
    Abandoned
  25. MOBILE CRUSHER #2
    Surface metal/non-metal · Frontera Materials Inc · MSHA ID 4103831
    Abandoned
  26. MONTE CRISTO PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Jentex Construction Inc · MSHA ID 4104202
    Abandoned
  27. No 1 Pit And Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Coastal Contractors Inc · MSHA ID 4102762
    Abandoned
  28. Northwestern Caliche Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Northwestern Caliche · MSHA ID 4103269
    Abandoned
  29. Pena-Ayala Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Pena-Ayala Landfill · MSHA ID 4103284
    Abandoned
  30. Portable #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Valley Caliche Products Inc · MSHA ID 4103339
    Abandoned
  31. Portable #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Martin Marietta Materials · MSHA ID 4105048
    Abandoned
  32. Portable #2
    Surface metal/non-metal · Valley Caliche Products Inc · MSHA ID 4103676
    Abandoned
  33. Portable #3
    Surface metal/non-metal · Valley Caliche Products Inc · MSHA ID 4104094
    Abandoned
  34. Rachal Quarry & Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Redland Stone Products Company · MSHA ID 4101476
    Abandoned
  35. Rios Caliche Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Rios Caliche Pit · MSHA ID 4103163
    Abandoned
  36. Saenz Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Superior Asphalt · MSHA ID 4105105
    Abandoned
  37. San Manuel Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mid Valley Paving Inc · MSHA ID 4103143
    Abandoned
  38. San Manuel Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Redland Stone Products Company · MSHA ID 4103682
    Abandoned
  39. SDG Gravel LLC
    Surface metal/non-metal · SDG Gravel LLC · MSHA ID 4104686
    Abandoned
  40. Shower's Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Vulcan Construction Materials, LLC · MSHA ID 4103154
    Abandoned
  41. SOUTH-TEX QUARRY
    Surface metal/non-metal · Alamo Concrete Products Company · MSHA ID 4103595
    Abandoned
  42. Spaulding Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Fordyce Company · MSHA ID 4101069
    Abandoned
  43. Texan Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Fresno Construction · MSHA ID 4103317
    Abandoned
  44. Texas Gravel Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Texas Gravel Inc · MSHA ID 4103447
    Abandoned
  45. The Lone Star Mining Ltd.
    Surface metal/non-metal · The Lone Star Mining Ltd. · MSHA ID 4104601
    Abandoned
  46. Tom Gill Tabasco pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Val-Tex Asph. Environmental Inc. · MSHA ID 4104674
    Abandoned
  47. Trejo Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Val-Tex Asphalt & Envrionmental Recycling Inc. · MSHA ID 4104462
    Abandoned
  48. VANNOY PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Martin Marietta Materials Southwest Ltd · MSHA ID 4103730
    Abandoned
  49. VELA PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Val-Tex Asphalr & Environmental Recycling Inc. · MSHA ID 4104087
    Abandoned
  50. Walkers Caliche Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Walkers Contractors Inc · MSHA ID 4103236
    Abandoned
  51. Western Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · South Texas Construction Company · MSHA ID 4103268
    Abandoned
  52. Zamora Caliche Products Incorporated
    Surface metal/non-metal · Zamora Caliche Products Inc · MSHA ID 4103146
    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
Quarry 61
Quarry 60
Gravel Pit 44
Prospect Pit 40
Gravel Pit 25
Disturbed Surface - Pit 14
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 10
Sand Pit 9
Disturbed Surface 2
Sand Pit 2
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 1
Clay Pit 1
Other counties in TexasAll 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.