Mining Incidents
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Ohio County, West Virginia

Ohio County, West Virginia has 48 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1902–1997, including 9 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts). OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 72 problems in the county, 37 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 12 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Ohio 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)
48
Mine openings
9
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
37
MSHA mines marked abandoned
12
0 features carry a name0 prospect pits3 quadrangle maps, published 1902–1997 72 OSMRE problems, 35 reclaimed 4 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
    21 17.5%
  2. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    35 29.2%
  3. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    8 6.7%
  4. Mills, tipples and facilities
    processing plants and hazardous structures
    2 1.7%
  5. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    54 45.0%
OSMRE abandoned mine land problems72 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Ardath Gamble Slide P2 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Pending
Charles Street Subsidence P1 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Completed
Charles Street Subsidence P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Cross Street Mine Drainage P1 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Completed
Cross Street Mine Drainage P1 Portals Reclamation Completed
Cross Street Mine Drainage P2 Clogged Stream Lands Reclamation Completed
Crumrine Subsidence P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Danie Subsidence P1 Subsidence Reclamation Pending
Dougherty Subsidence P1 Subsidence Reclamation Pending
Erickson Mine Drainage P1 Clogged Stream Lands Reclamation Completed
Erickson Mine Drainage P2 Clogged Stream Lands Reclamation Completed
Erickson Mine Drainage P2 Dangerous Impoundments Reclamation Completed
Erickson Mine Drainage P2 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Completed
Gerald Blake Drainage P2 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Pending
Glenns Run Refuse P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Glenns Run Refuse P2 Industrial/Residential Waste Reclamation Completed
Glenns Run Refuse P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Glenwood (Harris) Subsidence P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Greggsville (Bednarik) AMD P1 Dangerous Impoundments Reclamation Completed
Greggsville (Bednarik) AMD P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Greggsville (roth) Portal P2 Portals In Reclamation
Greggsville (roth) Portal P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Pending
Highland Avenue Drainage and Sewer P1 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Highland Avenue Drainage and Sewer P1 Dangerous Impoundments Reclamation Completed
Highland Avenue Drainage and Sewer P3 Water Problems Reclamation Completed
JD Miller RAMP Site P2 Clogged Streams In Reclamation
JD Miller RAMP Site P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments In Reclamation
JD Miller RAMP Site P3 Water Problems In Reclamation
Lorrain Pritchard Drainage P2 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Pending
Montani Towers Drainage P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Pending
Montani Towers Drainage P3 Other In Reclamation
Morrison Mine Drainage P1 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Pending
Morrison Mine Drainage P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
No. 8th Street Refuse & Portals P2 Dangerous Impoundments Reclamation Completed
No. 8th Street Refuse & Portals P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
North Fork Tipple P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
North Fork Tipple P3 High Wall Reclamation Pending
North Warwood Drain P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
North Warwood Drain P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Peters Run (perko) Collapsed Portal P2 Dangerous Impoundments Reclamation Pending
Rohrig Mine Drainage P1 Clogged Stream Lands Reclamation Pending
Rohrig Mine Drainage P1 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Pending
Rohrig Mine Drainage P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Scott Lumber Co. Portal P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
Short Creek Highwall P3 High Wall Reclamation Pending
Short Creek Highwall P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Short Creek Refuse & Amd P2 Dangerous Impoundments Reclamation Pending
Short Creek Refuse & Amd P2 Polluted Water: Agricultural & Industrial Reclamation Pending
Steadman A.m.d. P2 Dangerous Impoundments Reclamation Completed
Steadman A.m.d. P2 Dangerous Impoundments Reclamation Pending
Valley Camp (lucas) V. O. P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Valley Camp Mine Facilities P1 Hazardous Equip & Facilities In Reclamation
Valley Camp Mine Facilities P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Waldens Run Portals P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Waldens Run Portals P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Warwood (Anderson) Drainage P1 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Warwood (Anderson) Drainage P1 Portals Reclamation Completed
Warwood (Anderson) Drainage P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Warwood (const. Bldg. Speclts.) Dra P1 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Completed
Warwood (morrison) Landslide P1 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Completed
Warwood Drainage P1 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Completed
Warwood Drainage P1 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Completed
Warwood Drainage P1 Portals Reclamation Completed
Wheeling (15th Street) Mine Drainag P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Wheeling (Breiding) Subsidence P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Wheeling (duplaga) Amd P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Pending
Wheeling (lind Stree) Subsidence P1 Subsidence Reclamation Pending
Wheeling (mt. Wood Tunnel) Amd P2 Polluted Water: Agricultural & Industrial Reclamation Pending
Wheeling (mt. Wood Tunnel) Amd P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
Wheeling (neis) Subsidence P1 Subsidence Reclamation Pending
Wheeling (pandelos) Subsidence P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Wheeling Subsidence P1 Subsidence 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 Abandoned12 on register
  1. Airport Strip
    Surface coal · Valley Mining, Inc. · MSHA ID 4609037
    Abandoned and Sealed
  2. B & B #1
    Underground coal · B & B Coal · MSHA ID 4607653
    Abandoned and Sealed
  3. Central Repair Shop
    Facility coal · Valley Camp Coal Company · MSHA ID 4603500
    Abandoned
  4. Duffy Mine
    Surface coal · Sayco Development Company · MSHA ID 4606847
    Abandoned
  5. Hopkins West
    Facility coal · Rayle Coal Co. · MSHA ID 4609502
    Abandoned
  6. No 62-Strip
    Surface coal · West Virginia Energy Inc · MSHA ID 4606054
    Abandoned
  7. Short Creek Strip (Pit #2)
    Surface coal · Rayle Coal Company · MSHA ID 4606053
    Abandoned
  8. Stasky Augering
    Surface coal · Stasky Coal Company · MSHA ID 4607916
    Abandoned
  9. Tridell Realty Co
    Facility coal · Tridell Realty Company · MSHA ID 4607259
    Abandoned
  10. Tunnel Ridge Mine
    Underground coal · Tunnel Ridge, LLC · MSHA ID 4609142
    Abandoned
  11. V C #1 Mine
    Underground coal · Valley Camp Coal Company · MSHA ID 4601483
    Abandoned and Sealed
  12. V C #3 Mine
    Underground coal · Valley Camp Coal Company · MSHA ID 4601482
    Abandoned and Sealed

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 16
P1 Subsidence 10
Strip Mine 9
Disturbed Surface 9
P3 Water Problems 8
P1 Dangerous Slides 8
P2 Portals 7
Adit 7
P2 Dangerous Impoundments 6
P2 Dangerous Slides 4
P2 Clogged Streams 4
P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 3
P1 Portals 3
P1 Dangerous Impoundments 2
P1 Clogged Stream Lands 2
P2 Polluted Water: Agricultural & Industrial 2
P2 Clogged Stream Lands 2
P3 High Wall 2
Mine Dump 2
P2 Industrial/Residential Waste 1
Disturbed Surface - Pit 1
Tailings - Undifferentiated 1
Mine Dump 1
P3 Equipment Facility 1
P1 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 1
P1 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 1
P2 Vertical Openings 1
P1 Vertical Openings 1
P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 1
Air Shaft 1
P1 Clogged Streams 1
Mine Shaft 1
P3 Other 1
Other counties in West VirginiaAll 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.