PREVIOUS OBSERVERS AND HISTORY OF THE FIELD. 9 



Early in 1 867 1 the coal districts of Narsinghpur, Ho shun gab ad, Betul, 

 l86 and Chhindwara were examined under directions 



Mr. A. Sopwith. from the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Com- 

 pany by Mr. Arthur Sopwith, and a license to the company to mine 

 at Lokartalai was sanctioned by the Government of India, but active 

 operations were retarded owing to delay in opening up the railway. 



lg6 In 1867 2 Dr. T. Oldham gave a summary of 



Dr. Oldham. tne information up to date. 



In 1 868 3 Mr. Blanford published a paper on the coal seams of the Tawa 

 lg68 valley in which he gave an unfavourable opinion 



Mr. Blanford. f ^ e chances of working the coal profitably. 



In 1870 4 Mr. H. B. Medlicott published a short paper on the Moh- 

 18-0-72 P an * coal-field. In 1871 5 he published a Note 



Mr. H. B. Medlicott. on the N e rbudda coal basin, dealing chiefly with 

 the prospects of obtaining coal along the northern boundary of the 

 basin, the progress at Mohpani, and the outcrops at Lokartalai^ 

 which he ascribed to rocks younger than the Barakar group. 



In Mr. Medlicott's Notes 6 on the Satpura coal basin, published in 

 1872, we have a sketch of the geology of the whole of the Satpura area. 

 Again in 1872 7 Mr. Medlicott published a further Note 7 on Explora- 

 tion for Coal in the northern region of the Satpura basin, in which 

 he gives a sketch of the progress at Mohpani, and recommended 

 borings at Budi in the Dudhi valley and South of Kesla in the Tawa 

 valley, in order to test the presence of coal at a workable depth 

 below the Upper Damuda rocks between the known outcrops of the 

 Lower Damudas at the north and south of the basin. At the same 

 time he recommended borings in the alluvial deposits to the north at 

 Gadarwara and Bunkheri in order to determine whether they are 



1 Adinin. Rep. of C. Provinces. 



3 Memo, on the Coal Resources of India, Sel. Rec. Govt. I., LXIV. 

 8 Rec. Geol. Surv. India, I. 1, 8. 



4 Rec. Geol. Surv. India, III. 3, 64. 



5 Rec. Geol. Surv. India, IV, 3, 69. 



6 Mem. Geol. Surv. India, X. 2, 133. 



7 Rec. Geol. Surv. India, V. 4, 109. 



( 9 ) 



