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Abandoned mines › Wyoming
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Big Horn County, Wyoming

Big Horn County, Wyoming has 427 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1951–1993, including 6 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts) and 292 prospect pits; 3 of the features carry a name on the map. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 88 problems in the county, 7 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 30 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Big Horn 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)
427
Mine openings
6
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
7
MSHA mines marked abandoned
30
3 features carry a name292 prospect pits33 quadrangle maps, published 1951–1993 88 OSMRE problems, 81 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
    18 3.5%
  2. Prospect pits and trenches
    shallow exploration diggings that never became a mine
    292 56.7%
  3. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    9 1.7%
  4. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    120 23.3%
  5. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    22 4.3%
  6. Mills, tipples and facilities
    processing plants and hazardous structures
    3 0.6%
  7. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    49 9.5%
  8. Other
    symbols outside the classes above
    2 0.4%
Named features on the maps3 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Horse Thief Cave Adit
Lisbon Mines Glory Hole
Titan Mine Mine Shaft

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 problems88 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Bghr0008 P3 Pits Reclamation Pending
Bghr0008 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Bghr0020 P3 Pits Reclamation Pending
Bghr0021 P3 Pits Reclamation Pending
Bghr0026 P3 Pits Reclamation Pending
Bghr0026 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Bghr1001 P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Bghr1001 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Bghr1025 P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Bghr1025 P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Bghr1025 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Bghr1026 P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Bghr1026 P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bghr1026 P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
Bghr1026 P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Bghr1026 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Bghr1028 P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Bghr1028 P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Bghr1029 P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bghr1029 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Bghr1031 P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bghr1031 P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
Bghr1031 P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Bghr1031 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Bghr1033 P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bghr1033 P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
Bghr1035 P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bghr1035 P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Bghr1035 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Bghr1036 P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bghr1036 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Bghr1037 P2 Clogged Stream Lands Reclamation Completed
Bghr1037 P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Bghr1037 P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bghr1037 P2 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Completed
Bghr1037 P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Bghr1037 P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
Bghr1037 P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Bghr1037 P3 Haul Road Reclamation Completed
Bghr1037 P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Bghr1037 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Bghr1039 P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bghr1039 P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Bghr1039 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Bghr1040 P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bghr1040 P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
Bghr1040 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Bghr1041 P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bghr1041 P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Bghr1041 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Bghr1042 P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bghr1042 P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Bghr1042 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Bghr1055 P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Bghr1078 P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Bghr1080 P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Completed
Bghr1080 P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bghr1080 P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
Bghr1090 P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Bghr1090 P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Bghr1090 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
East of Horseshoe P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Foster Gulch Slope Bghr0005 P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Foster Gulch Slope Bghr0005 P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Frannie Water and Sewer (PF 43) PF Public Utilities Reclamation Completed
Greybull Sewer System (PF 37) PF Public Utilities Reclamation Completed
Horseshoe Mine P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Horseshoe Mine P3 Haul Road Reclamation Completed
Horseshoe Mine P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Horseshoe Mine P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Jons1087 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Lisbon P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Lisbon P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Lisbon P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Lisbon P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Lisbon P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Lisbon P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Little Mountain Titan - BGHR1088 P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Little Mountain Titan - BGHR1088 P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Little Mountain Titan - BGHR1088 P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Little Mountain Titan - BGHR1088 P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Little Mountain Titan - BGHR1088 P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Little Mountain Titan - BGHR1088 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Little Mountain Titan - BGHR1088 P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Little Mountain Titan - BGHR1088 P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Little Mountain Titan - BGHR1088 P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Little Mountain Titan - BGHR1088 P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Marvel MIne P2 Portals 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 Abandoned30 on register
  1. Barnett Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Dresser Minerals Division · MSHA ID 4800804
    Abandoned
  2. BCS - M.K.
    Surface metal/non-metal · Kenneth E Tanner · MSHA ID 4801498
    Abandoned
  3. Bear Creek
    Surface metal/non-metal · Good Bentonite Company, LLC · MSHA ID 4801780
    Abandoned
  4. Bear Creek Area
    Surface metal/non-metal · Dresser Minerals Division · MSHA ID 4800605
    Abandoned
  5. Bear Creek Good
    Surface metal/non-metal · L. D. Anderson, Inc. · MSHA ID 4801772
    Abandoned
  6. Brody Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Big Horn Ranch Holdings, LLC · MSHA ID 4801813
    Abandoned
  7. Clark Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Nicholls & Lewis Concrete · MSHA ID 4801209
    Abandoned
  8. Crusher No 1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Big Horn County Road & Bridge · MSHA ID 4801481
    Abandoned
  9. Crusher No 2
    Surface metal/non-metal · Big Horn County Road & Bridge · MSHA ID 4801648
    Abandoned
  10. Crystal Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · American Colloid Company Minerals Group · MSHA ID 4800606
    Abandoned
  11. East Stucco
    Surface metal/non-metal · Wyo-Ben Inc · MSHA ID 4800882
    Abandoned
  12. Frost Crusher #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Frost Construction Company · MSHA ID 4801434
    Abandoned
  13. Greybull Field Project
    Underground metal/non-metal · New Era Petroleum, Inc. · MSHA ID 4801679
    Abandoned
  14. Greybull Wash Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Big Horn Redi Mix · MSHA ID 4801642
    Abandoned
  15. Gypsum Quarry No 7
    Surface metal/non-metal · Georgia Pacific Corp · MSHA ID 4801154
    Abandoned
  16. Himes Gypsum Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Georgia Pacific Corp · MSHA ID 4800633
    Abandoned
  17. Lisbon Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Bob-Lea Industries Inc · MSHA ID 4801356
    Abandoned
  18. Little Sheep Mountain Limestone Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Nicholls & Lewis Inc · MSHA ID 4801499
    Abandoned
  19. Lovell Clay Products No 2 Shale Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Lovell Clay Products Company · MSHA ID 4800071
    Abandoned
  20. Mineral Division
    Surface metal/non-metal · Dresser Minerals Division · MSHA ID 4800830
    Abandoned
  21. North Stucco Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Wyo-Ben Inc · MSHA ID 4800863
    Abandoned
  22. Portable Crusher
    Surface metal/non-metal · Nicholls & Lewis Inc · MSHA ID 4800290
    Abandoned
  23. Porter Gulch Area
    Surface metal/non-metal · Dresser Minerals Division · MSHA ID 4800604
    Abandoned
  24. Rey Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Nicholls & Lewis Concrete · MSHA ID 4801126
    Abandoned
  25. RM100
    Surface metal/non-metal · Summit Excavation & Grading, LLC · MSHA ID 4801839
    Abandoned
  26. Robertson Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Nicholls & Lewis Concrete · MSHA ID 4801208
    Abandoned
  27. Snake Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Dresser Minerals Division · MSHA ID 4800803
    Abandoned
  28. South Stucco Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Wyo-Ben Inc · MSHA ID 4800864
    Abandoned
  29. Stucco Mines
    Surface metal/non-metal · Wyo-Ben Inc · MSHA ID 4801185
    Abandoned
  30. U 75 Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Dresser Minerals Division · MSHA ID 4800832
    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
Prospect Pit 292
Clay Pit 36
Gravel Pit 34
Gravel Pit 29
P3 Spoil Area 17
P2 Dangerous Highwalls 15
P3 Pits 15
Clay Pit 11
Strip Mine 9
Quarry 8
P2 Portals 7
P2 Hazardous Water Bodies 6
P2 Clogged Streams 6
P2 Vertical Openings 5
Adit 4
P3 Gobs 3
P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 3
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 2
P2 Subsidence 2
P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 2
P3 Haul Road 2
PF Public Utilities 2
P3 Equipment Facility 1
P2 Clogged Stream Lands 1
Glory Hole 1
P2 Dangerous Slides 1
Mine Shaft 1
Other counties in WyomingAll 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.