Nebraska, abandoned mine maps

Nebraska Abandoned Mine Maps

The two federal files record 1 underground mine opening in Nebraska, shafts, adits and tunnels drawn on the historical topographic sheets, alongside 7 old mine sites. This page shows where they are, who holds the maps, and what to do if the ground moves.

Information only, no guarantee: read the limits at the foot of this page before you act on anything here.

This page

What this page is

Every office on this page was opened and checked on Oct. 22, 2026.

The 1 underground mine opening in Nebraska are spread across 83 counties, and the heaviest of them is Greeley County with 1. An opening on a historical sheet is a shaft, an adit or a tunnel that was drawn where the surveyor found it, so it marks a way into workings that run on underground, away from the point.

Nebraska has no abandoned mine program.

Everything here can be wrong. This is information, not a guarantee: the two federal files can be wrong, incomplete or out of date, the boundaries and the geocoder can be wrong, a point is a location and not a property line, and nothing on this page says that a mine is or is not under any particular property. Do not buy, sell, move, or make any decision about a home or about your safety on this alone. Ask the state mine map office named here for the maps, and have a qualified engineer look at the ground.

Start here

Official Nebraska mine record sources

Every card goes to the office that holds the record. Use the category buttons to narrow the list.

Filter by type

Showing 5 official sources

Official

Federal

OSMRE National Mine Map Repository

The federal archive of maps of closed and abandoned mines, searchable by state, county, company and mine name; the images are sent on request through the map request form.

mmr.osmre.gov
Open official site OSMRE National Mine Map Repository
Official

Federal

OSMRE e-AMLIS

The federal inventory of abandoned mine land problems and the reclamation work funded against them, state by state and county by county.

amlis.osmre.gov
Open official site OSMRE e-AMLIS
Official

Federal

USGS USMIN topographic mine features

The national file of adits, shafts, pits and quarries digitised from the historical topographic sheets, each with the sheet name and the survey year.

mrdata.usgs.gov
Open official site USGS USMIN topographic mine features

The map

Nebraska mine workings on one map

To look at one address, one ZIP code or one town instead of the whole state, open the mine map hub search and enter it there: it takes a street address, a ZIP code or your browser location and lists what sits within the radius you choose.

Who keeps what

Who keeps which mine records in Nebraska?

What you needOffice or archiveWhat it can tell you
The geology, the seams and the published mappingConservation and Survey Division, University of Nebraska, Geological and Mineral ResourcesWhich seams were worked in your county and what the state has digitised
A map of a closed mine the state does not holdOSMRE National Mine Map RepositoryThe federal archive of more than 275,000 mine maps, searched by state, county, company and mine name
Whether a reclamation project is on record near youOSMRE e-AMLISThe federal inventory of abandoned mine land problems and the work funded on them

County by county

Nebraska counties with recorded mine workings

83 counties have a record in one of the two federal files. Ranked by underground openings first, because an opening is a way into workings that run on underground.

Town by town

Towns in Nebraska with workings inside the town limits

23 towns with the most records inside its own boundary, of 23 towns that hold one.

TownUnderground openingsMapped featuresOld mine sites
Grand Island0120
Weeping Water070
Omaha031
Bayard030
Gothenburg030
Hastings030
Schuyler030
Atkinson020
Norfolk020
North Platte020
Brock010
Columbus010
Doniphan010
Hebron010
Macy010
O'Neill010
Ogallala010
Paxton010
Salem010
Springview010
Trenton010
Valparaiso010
Wahoo010

The real document

How to get the mine map itself

Nebraska publishes no mine map viewer of its own, so the federal archive is the route.

OSMRE National Mine Map Repository is the federal archive. It holds maps of more than 275,000 closed and abandoned mines, the images are not downloadable, and they are sent on request: search the repository by state, county, company or mine name, then ask for the sheet by its number through the map request form or at nmmr@osmre.gov.

A mine map is the only document that shows the rooms, the pillars and the depth of cover under a given piece of ground. A point in either federal file is a location, not a property line, and it says nothing about what lies under any particular house.

Emergency

If the ground moves in Nebraska

If the ground has opened, if a hole is swallowing water or soil, if a wall or a floor has moved suddenly, or if anyone could fall in, call 911 first. A subsidence hole can keep opening, and the edge of it is not safe to stand on.

Nebraska runs no abandoned mine land programme of its own, so a hazard on state or private land goes to the county emergency management office, and a hazard on federal land to the Bureau of Land Management or the Forest Service office that manages it.

Then tell the people who need the record of it: your insurer, your county emergency management office, and, if the hole is in a road or a right of way, the authority that maintains it. Photograph it with something in the frame for scale, write down the date and the time, and keep measuring it, because how fast it grows is what an engineer will ask about first.

Signs worth reporting before anything opens: doors and windows that stop closing, new cracks that run at an angle across a wall, a floor or a drive that dips, a sudden wet patch or a dry well, and a smell of sulphur or a warm patch of ground where snow melts first.

Cover

Mine subsidence insurance in Nebraska

Nebraska runs no state mine subsidence insurance programme. Cover, where an insurer offers it at all, is an endorsement on a homeowner policy, and a standard policy excludes earth movement, which is what mine subsidence is.

Ask your own insurer in writing whether the policy covers subsidence from mining, and keep the answer. Seven states run a programme of their own: Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Wyoming, with a protection programme in Colorado.

The data

What the federal files hold for Nebraska

The topographic file holds 1,755 mapped mine features inside Nebraska, 1 of them underground opening. The sheets they were drawn on were surveyed between 1950 and 1994. The commonest kinds are gravel pit, sand pit and quarry.

The mineral file holds 7 worked or prospected sites in Nebraska, 6 of them named, with 6 sites recorded as a past producer. The commodities most often named are sand and gravel, stone and lead, smelter.

How the counting was done: every point in both files was placed inside the Census TIGER 2024 county and place boundaries by its own coordinates, not by the county name written in the file, because that name is blank or wrong often enough to matter. A point that falls outside every boundary is counted in no county and no town.

What the counts are not: a count of mines under houses. A single opening can lead to workings that run for miles, and a working with no opening on a sheet is in no count at all. Only a mine map shows the rooms, and only the offices named above hold the maps.

Everything here can be wrong. This is information, not a guarantee: the two federal files can be wrong, incomplete or out of date, the boundaries and the geocoder can be wrong, a point is a location and not a property line, and nothing on this page says that a mine is or is not under any particular property. Do not buy, sell, move, or make any decision about a home or about your safety on this alone. Ask the state mine map office named here for the maps, and have a qualified engineer look at the ground.

Straight answers

Nebraska mine map questions

Open only the answer you need.

Can I find out whether a mine is under my house?

Not from this page and not from either federal file. A point is a location, not a property line. The only document that shows the workings under a given piece of ground is the mine map, and in Nebraska you ask the OSMRE National Mine Map Repository for it.

Who do I call in Nebraska if the ground opens up?

Call 911 first if anyone could be hurt. After that the report goes to your county emergency management office, because the state runs no abandoned mine land programme of its own.

Where do the numbers on this page come from?

Two federal files: the USGS Mineral Resources Data System and the USGS USMIN file of mine features digitised from the historical topographic sheets. Every point was placed inside the Census 2024 county and place boundaries by its own coordinates. For Nebraska that is 1,755 mapped mine features and 7 old mine sites.

Does homeowner insurance cover mine subsidence in Nebraska?

A standard policy excludes earth movement, and mine subsidence is earth movement. Nebraska runs no state subsidence programme, so ask your own insurer in writing whether any endorsement is available and keep the answer.

What does an underground opening on an old map mean?

It means a surveyor drew a shaft, an adit or a tunnel mouth at that spot when the sheet was made. It is a way in. The workings it leads to can run a long way from it, and the map of those workings is a separate document held by the offices named on this page.

Which Nebraska counties have the most recorded workings?

By underground openings first: Greeley with 1 opening and 1 mapped feature; Cass with 0 openings and 161 mapped features; Cheyenne with 0 openings and 95 mapped features. Each county page lists the named workings inside it and carries its own map.

Is this an official government source?

No. This is a public records guide. The offices it names and links are the official sources, and everything on this page can be wrong: check it with them before you act on it.