14 KANIGANJ COAL FIELD. [ChAP. I. 



A short description of the R&niganj mine succeeds, with an account 



of the destruction of the old mine by fire in 



Kaniganj mine. -.'«>'„"» • /« • t nr 



1843. A series 01 experiments under Mr. 



Williams's superintendence were made in this mine, upon the intro- 

 duction of the English system of ventilation.* The successful results 

 in cooling the mine are sbown from thermometrical observations. 



In the next pages Mr. Williams describes the coal worked at Nar- 

 rainkuri, and shows that the Raniganj and Narrainktiri seams are 

 clearly distinct and not identical, as had till that time been supposed. 

 He then details the beds seen in the Nunia, from its mouth on the 

 Damtida, as far as the suspension bridge on the Grand Trunk Road, 

 and proceeds to describe the rocks developed West of the Nunia, and 

 South of Asansol. He observes that "these beds are composed of 

 "arenaceous shale, with alternating beds of red marl, and beds of 

 "greenish-grey sandstone, highly micaceous and soft," (page 531). 



The area covered by these (the Panchet series of our classification),! 

 both North and South of the Damtida, is accurately described, with 

 the exception of the omission of all mention of their occurrence at the 

 base of Beharinath and Panchet Hills. Their place in the general 

 series was somewhat misappreciated by Mr. Williams, as is shown by 

 his sheets of vertical sections. This error, however, applied more 

 particularly to the rocks of the neighborhood of Raniganj, since the 

 rocks were traced downwards with perfect accuracy from the Panchet 

 series to the base of the Damtidas, in the Western parts of the field, 

 where alone sections are well seen. 



A detailed section of 2,747 feet of the rocks near Chinaktiri, 

 which are considered to be the lower beds of the middle coal mea- 

 sures, is next given : then an account of the beds near the Nudia 

 colliery, South of the Damuda, and a measured section of those 



* Ultimately these experiments were the cause of great danger to the mine, from the small 

 coal, which had been used to form stoppings in the galleries, having ignited. 

 f See further. 



