RECORDS 
OF THE 
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. 
Part 2.] 1879. C May. 
Note on the Mohpani Coal-field, ly H. B. Medlicott, M.A., Geological Survey 
of India. 
No ground in India has been so frequently noticed in these pages as the 
Mohpani coal-field,^ situated on the south side of the Narbada valley, 95 miles 
by rail below (west-south-west of) Jabalpur, and at the northeim edge the Satpura 
basin of the Gondwana rocks. It owes this distinction to three circumstances: 
first, to its position, close to one of the great trunk lines of railway, and as the 
nearest open source of coal to north-western India; its distance from Allahabad 
is 322 miles, or 83 miles nearer than the Karharbari field, from Avhich all the 
coal for the line up to Delhi and Lahore is at present drawn and its distance 
from Kandwa, the junction of the Indore and Neemuch line, is 196 miles, or 
122 miles nearer than the Warora colliery to the same point. 
The second circumstance which gives importance to Mohpani is, that it is 
the only easily accessible coal-field in this region. It has been known from the 
first that the only outcrop of the coal-measures along the northern edge of the 
Satpura basin is at Mohpani; and the failure of the boring experiments made 
during the past four years, under orders of Government, and of which an 
account has been published in the papers referred to above, has fairly established 
that the coal is not within easy reach at any other point along that line—a 
conclusion which indirectly gives an indefinitely increased value to the Mohpani 
field. 
The third circumstance which has brought Mohpani so frequently under 
ofiicial notice is, the possibly precarious nature of the supply in that field. The 
long protracted doubt on this point has been entirely owing to the timorous and 
1 Mem. G. S. I., Vol. II, Ft. 2, 1859; Vol. X, Ft. 1, 1873. Eec. G. S. I., Vol. III. Ft. 3, 
1870 ; Vol. IV, Ft. 3, 1871; Vol. V, Ft. 4, 1872; Vol. VIII, Ft. 3, 1875. 
2 The opening of the Falamow fields, by the most direct line, wonld remove tliis advantage. 
