PART ^.] 
MeiUicoU; Note on the Mohj/dui Coal-field. 
97 
of tlie influx of watei’ when the coal was reached. In December 1876 an 
attempt was being made to fix pumping gear in this shaft; and the new manager, 
Mr. J. A. Maughan, m. e., who took charge of the mines at the beginning of 
1877, seems to have pushed on this work with vigour, for on the occasion of 
my recent visit, in Maix;h last, I found that all the coal that was then being 
raised was by this shaft, from workings to the south, extending to about 360 
feet from the shaft, beneath the covering Mahadeva rocks, and quite beyond 
the presumable position of any great east-west fault. In these new workings 
the main (30') seam is in full force, and also the lower seam. 
Thus whatever apprehension may have existed regarding the supply of coal 
in this field may be laid aside. The condition of the seams in the new ground 
opened by Mr. Maughan gives every reasonable expectation of an abundant 
supply, within a moderate depth from the surface. 
Still the difficulties of the enterprise are not at an end. The evil effect.s 
of protracted neglect of sj'stem and forethought are not to be overcome in 
a moment; and the output of the colliery cannot be counted upon with any 
certainty until those defects are removed, and a proper sy.stem of mining estab¬ 
lished. As has been already stated, all the old openings, shaft No. 2 amongst 
them, are at or near the outcrop of the seams, so that the coal lies chiefly at 
a lower level than in the shaft; and the dip of the seam being still considerable 
and variable, the difficulties of raising the coal and of draining the mine in¬ 
crease rapidly as the work advances. Until a new shaft is in working order 
well to the deep of all the present openings, a large and regular output of coal 
cannot be depended upon. 
Notice may here be given of the concluding operations in search for coal 
outside the Molqodni field, in continuation of that given in the Annual Report for 
1877 (Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., vol. XI, p. 7). The Anjan boring, mentioned 
as then in progress, was carried to a depth of 350 feet (11th May 1878) without 
piercing the covering red rocks of the Mahadeva series. This was the last 
trial to find the coal-measures in proximity to the detached inliers of the 
Talchirs. 
There remained but one position favorable for a trial, and where, I must 
confess, I looked with very great hopes for success. It is close to the south¬ 
east of the village of Bauer, or Benar, at the very edge of the Narbada Com¬ 
pany’s land, in ground formerly held by the Sitariva Coal Company, when a 
shaft had been begun, by my advice, at this spot.^ It is less than half a 
mile from the seams in the Sitariva ; an oittcrop of coal-measure sandstone (or 
a rock undistingui.shable from it) occurs north of the village, and the shaft 
begins in the red covering rock, so that unless the coal dies out within that 
short distance, or some undetected unconformity occurs between the formations, 
there seemed a certainty of striking the coal here, and I recommended to Gov¬ 
ernment that a boring should be put down in continuation of the old shaft. 
This boring commenced on the 24th February 1878, the water and mud 
having been cleared from the shaft, which was found to be 118 feet deep, 
• See Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., Vol. IV, p. 68. 
