Google This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world’s books discoverable online. It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that’s often difficult to discover. Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book’s long journey from the publisher to a library and finally to you. Usage guidelines Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. We also ask that you: + Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individual personal, non-commercial purposes. and we request that you use these files for + Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google’s system: If you are conducting research on machine translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. + Maintain attribution The Google “watermark” you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. + Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can’t offer guidance on whether any specific use of any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book’s appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe. About Google Book Search Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world’s books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web ai[http: //books . google. com/| QE AVS “A MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. VOL XIU, Pr. 1. HuauHes: WarpHa VALLEY CoAL-FIELD. The Records of the Geological Survey of India will be issued at intervals of about three months, and forwarded to subscribers— s. @ rs. @ Subscription for the year... eee «. 4 0 or 2 0 Price of each Number oes vee ww 2 0 or 1 0 Postage, if for India, 4 annas additional. ” Great Britain, 8 annas, or ls. per annum. ADDRESS— Superintendent of Geological Survey of India, Geological Survey Office, Indian Museum, CaLcurra. The ‘ Records’ for 1868 (1st year) containing 3 Numbers, can be had stitched in paper cover.—Price 1 Re.8 As. — . The ‘ Records’ for 1869 (2nd year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Re. The ‘ Records’ for 1870 (8rd year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Rs. The ‘ Records’ for 1871 (4th year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.— Price 2 Rs. The ‘ Records’ for 1872 (5th year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Rs. The ‘ Records’ for 1873 (6th year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Rs. Tho ‘ Records’ for 1874 (7th year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Rs. The ‘ Records’ for 1875 (8th year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Rs. The ‘ Records’ for 1876 (9th year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Rs. Notice. A Number of tho ‘Records’ will be issued in the months of February, May, August and November in each year. Each Number will contain the additions to Library and Donations to Museum up to the first of the next preceding month, that is, to the end of March, June, September and December. MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. The Records of the Geological Survey of India will be issued at intervals of about three months, and forwarded to subscribers— Subscription for the year Price of each Number one ee oe Postage, if for India, 4 annas additional. ” Great Britain, 8 annas, or ls. per annum. ef eee oes eee 4 2 ADDEESS— Superintendent of Geological Survey of India, Geological Survey Office, Indian Museum, CaLcurta. The ‘ Records’ for 1868 (1st. year) containing 3 Numbers, can be had stitched in paper cover.—Price 1 Re.8 As. . The ‘ Records’ for 1869 (2nd year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.— Price 2 Rs. The ‘ Records’ for 1870 (3rd year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Rs. The ‘ Records’ for 1871 (4th year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Rs. The ‘ Records’ for 1872 (5th year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Re. The ‘ Records’ for 1873 (6th year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Re. The ‘ Records’ for 1874 (7th year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Rs. The ‘ Records’ for 1875 (8th year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Rs. The * Records’ for 1876 (9th year) containing 4 Numbers, stitched.—Price 2 Rs. Notice. A Number of the ‘Records’ will be issued in the months of February, May, August and November in each year. Each Number will contain the additions to Library and Donations to Museum up to the first of the next preceding month, that is, to the end of March, June, September and December. MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Ea ae ” — ATH B TSH INDIA. VOL. XIII. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF HIS EXCELLENOY THE GOVERNOR GENBRAL OF INDIA Iw OCOUNOIL. CALCUTTA: PRINTED FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. SOLD AT THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OFFICE, OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING, AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS, LONDON: TBUBNEE & CO, MDCQOCLXZXVII. OALOUTTA : OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING. 1877. CONTENTS. Art. 1.—Tae Warpua VALiry CoaL-FIELD, dy THEoporE W. H. HuauHks, a.B.8.M., F.G.8., Geological Survey of India. CHAPTER I. GENERAL REMARKS. PAGE. Section I.—Previous Observers . . . : . . ; 1 » I1.—Physical Description . . . © ~ . . 3 » III.—Geological Formations . . : ‘ oe 8 CHAPTER II. DIstRIBUTION OF Rocks. Section IV.—Metamorphic ee - . Ail » V.—Vindhyan . 2 ee . . . or 9» VI.—Talchir . - 2 6 © eh heh eC » VII.—Barfkar 2 . . oe . 18 Chanda District . . 2 . . . 21 Wain » . . . : . . . 38 Nizam’s Dominions ‘ . . . . . 54 » VIII.—KA4mthi oe . : . 7 . : 66 ” IX.—K6t4-Maléri . . . : : . . . . 81 9 X.—Laméta . ° . . . ~ . . 87 ” XI.—Trap . . . 91 oy XII.—Laterite, Superficial deposits. . . . « .~ @. CHAPTER III. IDENTIFICATION AND RELATION OF THE Rocx Grovps. CHAPTER IV. Economic. Section XIII.—Coal . . ; . . . . ° . 97 » XIV.—Iron ores . ° . : ook : - 109 vi CONTENTS. PAGE. Section XV.—Limestone . . . : : : . ‘ » (112 » XVI.—Manganese . . . 2 . . . . 114 » INDIA: VOL, XIII, Pr, 1. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF HIS EXCELLENOY THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA IN COUNCIL. CALCUTTA: PRINTED FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. SOLD AT THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OFFICE, OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING, AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS, LONDON: TRUBNER & CO, MDCOCLXXVITI. CALOUTTA : OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING. 1877. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. GENERAL REMARKS. Section I.—Previous Observers II.—Physical Description . . . . III.—Geological Formations CHAPTER II. DIstTRIBUTION OF Rocks. V.—Vindbyan . . . . . VI.—Talchfr ‘ . e . . . e . Vil.—Barfkar . . . . . : . ‘ Chanda District Wén ” e Nizam’s Dominions . VIII.—Kamthi . . . 8 ele IX.—K6té-Maléri . . . 8 X.—Laméta ; . XI.—Trap . . . . XII.—Laterite, Superficial deposits . CHAPTER III. IDENTIFICATION AND RELATION OF THE Rock Grovps. PAGE. vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. EcoNnoMIc. Section XITI.—Ooal . .. ‘ _ .s » XIV.—Iron ores. : ° . . : . . » XV.—Limestone . . . : . . : . » MVI.—Manganese . . . «© «© «© -« » XX&VIJ.—Fireclay . : . . . . ~ oe » &VITII.—Building stones . . : . ° . ‘ ° CHAPTER V. APPENDICES, Section XIX.—Boring sections . . . . . oe . » XX.—List of authors referred to. . . » X&XI.—Experimental Iron manufacture at Warora »» X&XKXIT.—Note on the Bandar coal-field . 116 140 141 145 MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. ~ ‘Tas Warpua Vatiey Coat-rietp, dy Tozopore W. H. Huauzs, . ey Oe) ee en ae ~s ERRATUM. Page 27, line.15, for 8° read 43°. ours \usews waweusiun OF Water, Whiet amounted to 7°S per cent.) :— Carbon ode ene ore ooo ove 43'8 Volatile matter ove ees ves tee 33°7 Ash .— w. vee ose eee wee 22°65 Tora .. 1000 Specific gravity, 1'457. As there was no incentive in those days to work this coal, the announcement of its existence was accepted as a fact, and then appears to have been forgotten. * Gleanings in Science, 1891, Vol. III, pp. 281-288. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. XIII, Art. 1. » g HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. Mr. Hislop, to whom so much is due for his pioneer labours in the Central Provinces, was the first who accumulated a connected series of geological facts of the Wardha valley. A list of his papers, which commenced in 1854 and were contributed chiefly to the quarterly journal of the Geological Society of London, will be found in the appendix. Hislop. On some points the researches of the Survey have led to conclusions different to those of Hislop, but the correctness of his identification of the red clays of Pisdtira* as Lamétas (Infra trappean) has been establish- ed. What calls for the highest tribute of recognition is the success of his paleontological explorations. Aided by an extremely intelligent native collector whom he had trained to the work, he exhumed the remains of mammals, reptiles, fish, insects, molluscs and plante, which formed the ground work in shaping the relations of the different rock groups in which they were discovered. Mr. Fedden and myself have each met with moderate fortune in our endeavours to follow in Hislop’s footsteps, but our success is in great measure due to the circumstance of his having pointed the way to where the fossils occurred. Passing over the notices that appeared in Local Gazettes and Ad- ministration reports, the only contributors to the special literature of the Wardha valley are: Mr. Blanford, Dr. Oldham, and Mr, Fedden in the order mentioned. Mr. Blanford in 1867, in accordance with a requisition for the services of an officer of the Geological Survey made by the Government of the : Central Provinces (to whose notice the occurrence of coal in the Wardha had then recently been brought by Captain Lucie-Smith, the Deputy Commissioner of Chénda), spent a few days examining the different outcrops pointed out to him. Blanford, 1867. * Spelt Phizdar& by Hislop. ( 2) PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. 3 Owing to the weathered character of the coal at the surface, and the obscurity of most of the sections, he was not able to pronounce a very decided opinion upon either the size or quality of the seams that he saw, but he anticipated that the coal at Ballérpiir would yield fairly useful fuel for all purposes,—an opinion which has since been confirmed. He strongly urged that a closer survey than he had the opportunity of carrying out should be made, and recommended that, owing to the fact of the rocks being greatly concealed by superficial accumulations, borings should be resorted to, to prove the commercial value of the field. Dr. Oldham’s notices appeared at intervals in the records of the Geological Survey between 1869 and 1871. He gave the most recent information obtained from the borings commenced under his superintendence, and he sketched the outline of the general conclusions that the survey had arrived at. Borings recommended. Oldham, 1869. Mr. Fedden’s paper refers to the discovery by himself of evidence bearing out the hypothesis of ice-action proposed Fedden, 1876 . many years ago by Mr. Blanford to explain the mode of accumulation of the boulder bed of the T4lchir period. Sgcrion I].—Puysroat Dgsorrrtion. The Wardha coal field, as limited by an arbitrary line to the south and by its natural geological boundaries square miles. field 1,600 i, the east, west, and north, covers an area of about 1,600 square miles. It occupies the valley “of the river Wardha, throughout, a length of one hundred miles, and is included between Latitudes 19° 28’ and 20° 27’, N. Longitudes 78° 50’ and 79° 46’ E. Its most northerly point is only Latitude and Longi- 146 miles from the famous cotton mart of Hin- ganghft, and it extends southward to the third barrier of the Godévari navigation scheme. ( 8). 4 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. In mapping part of the area, I received much aasistance from my colleague Mr. Fedden, and on two occasions I had the advantage of ac-- companying Dr. Oldham over portions of the ground. I have also had the benefit of Mr. Blanford’s suggestions. The country, as a rule, except in the south, is open for some miles on both sides of the river, with wide-spread deposits of alluvium, sands, and gravels, broken only by a few isolated hills of moderate height, like Dongargaon, Winjasan, Balér, Yenak, &c. Bordering the field, the scarps of the trappean rocks rise into view. And Hills, . the semiquartzites and sandstones of the Vindhyan series form conspicuous ranges of hills and massive table-lands. The most extensive of these is the one in almost immediate contiguity to the north-eastern extremity of the field, containing the large mass of water called Lake Téroba, which is supposed to produce a fecundating effect upon sterile women, and restore health to the sick. Towards the south the country becomes much more hilly, and abrupt in its contrasts of physical contour. The upper series of rocks associated with the coal measures no longer worn into low land, rise Antargaon range. high above the level of the Wardha, and at Antar- . gaon form a commanding range which comes down nearly to the edge of the river. The D&bha hills occupy a large area of ground, and there are many points of view of considerable at- traction. The Témta spur, which borders the left bank of the Wamim- pali nala, formed of distinctly bedded, and strongly colored sandstones, at once catches the eye, and its bold outlines render it a prominent feature in the scenery. These hills give shelter to one of the few herds of “Gaur” now left in the Ch&nda district, but they are followed up and shot down year after year by European sportsmen and native shikéris, and in another decade Débha hills. there will probably be no representatives of that splendid wild animal within many miles of the Wardha in British territory, ( 4 ) PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. 5 The forest lands of the Wardha and Pranvhita valleys are too well. known to require a special description. The principal preserves are on. the eastern and southern portion of the Ch&nda district, beyond the area of the coal, embracing the Pandb4ras and Ahiri forests. The majority of the trees in the Bhandak, Moharli, Jog4pur and Dabha forests are small, and a system of conservation must be carried out for some time before they acquire proper proportions. Forests. There are extensive tracts of bamboo jungle along the Andéri and [rai valleys, and at the foot of the hills west of Wirtr and Antargaon in the Nizam’s dominions. In the Wan district there are no bamboo jungles within the limits of the coal field : Bamboo jungle. There is everywhere an extraordinary luxuriance of coarse grass, and it is impossible throughout many miles of country for a geologist to work properly until the spring fires assist him by burning it down. The most excessive growth occurs Grass. on the trappean plateaus, and in many instances the grass stands high above one’s head. The soil on both sides of the Wardha near the river is a rich black loam, capable of supporting very heavy crops of Boll | jaw&ri” and cotton. Elsewhere, it is more sandy and especially so over the large area coverd by the rocks of the Kaémthi group in the Chénda district. The main drainage is effected by the Wardha, which when in flood has an average breadth of quite 200 yards, and is Drainage, many feet in depth; but throughout the cold and hot seasons, the water diminishes to such an extent that only a light- draught canoe can float over the shallows and rapids that constitute a large proportion of the river’s way. In a few places there are deep pools ( 5 ) 6 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. and reaches; and opposite Télwdsa, Ghiigis and Ballérpir, the banks are moderately high. Between Suét and Koséra, about six miles before the Wardha passes into the coal field, a waterfall occurs, which, although it does not come within the strict com- pass of this report to describe, deserves mentioning, as being an interesting feature in the scenery of the river. Just above the fall the river bed widens to about 150 or 200 yards, with a shallow rocky channel of lime- stone. The actual drop is small, not being more than 15 to 16 feet in the dry season, so that the element of grandeur is entirely wanting, but the mere noise of the cascade, and the water, snowy white with foam, jost- ling through the gorge at the bottom of the falls, constitute an attraction which helps to while away a leisure hour. SGét waterfall. The tributaries of the Wardha are all much inferior to it in size except the Pém Ganga, which forms the southern boundary of the Berars or Assigned Districts of Haidar&béd. It only flows for five miles through the field and exposes no seams of coal, but it is vested with great interest, as having given a local name to the sub-divisionsof the Vindhyan series and yielded the section that afforded evidence of ground ice in India Pém Ganga. during the Tflchir period. The next stream of most consequence is the [rai, which takes its rise in the trap hills near the coal field of Bandar, Trai and skirting the table-land in which lake Téroba rests, cuts through the sedimentary rocks of the field near Sité- rémpét. It exposes K&mthis and Talchirs in its course, and run- ning past the walls of the town of Chénda, joins the Wardha on the left bank, a little to the east of Harasti. None of the other tributaries, whether considered merely in reference to size, or as serving to interpret the geological structure of the field, are important enough to call for a special reference. ( 6 ) PHYSICAL DRSCRIPTION. 7 ‘ There are a few large tanks, such as those of Warora, Waigaon, Tanks. Khairgaon, Win, and Chanda. The rainfall is very irregularly distributed, and in the monsoon it is s common occurrence to have a most violent Rainfall downpour confined to a narrow zone of country. The irregularity is connected with the configuration of the country, the neighbourhood of the hill ranges and plateau being subject to a comparatively larger annual fall than the open tracts. The village of Pisgaon, situated at the mouth of a small bayin the trappean scarp, is noted for its special falls, and though only 13 miles south-west of Waro- ra, the coming of the monsoon is heralded much earlier, and the rains are sustained with much more violence, and with fewer interruptions, than at the latter place, which is surrounded by a wide open plain. I am able to quote from four administration reports of the Central Provinces the registers of rainfall at four of the principal towns in the Chanda district for the years 1868-69-70 and 73— 1868, 1869. 1870. 1873, Wérork ~ 86°54 35°9 4365 88-0 Chénda - 86:69 4648 6963 938-71 Moh! ss 86:36 81°99 6205 81°6 Barhampuri. ... 47°02 41:22 52°35 45°41 Probably these figures are not entirely to be depended upon, but they show that Waérorf has a scantier rainfall than any of the other towns that are in closer proximity to elevated lands and jungle. Three distinct nationalities meet on the banks of the Wardha, the Gond, the Mahérétta and the Telfigi. They Tababitanta. seem adverse to taking up the occupation of a collier, but I believe that the incentive of high wages might tempt the low caste Dhérs and Gonds to work underground steadily. It will be necessary, however, to treat the first venturers judiciously. The Dhérs, or Mahfrs as they call themselves, are very numer- ous and widely spread ; they form the chief thread- ( 7) Dhérs. § HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. spinners and weavers of coarse cloth in the country, and they furnish most of the ‘kotwals’ for the village. They are poor-spirited and tract- able as yet, and consequently present plastic material for shaping into miners. The Gonds are somewhat more independent and less pliant, but Gonds. they are physically better adapted for severe labor. Section III.—Gzrotoarcat Formations. Classifying the surface soils and rocks of the Wardha valley in de- seending order, we have— Recent deposits. - Laterite. . Trappean series. aa . Laméta, or infra-trappean group. - Kéta-Maleéri group. . Kémthi group. - Bardékar group. . Télchir group. _- Géndwéna series. oon ona Pf w w . Vindhyan series. - Metamorphic series. p= —] In this list, the old and familiar title of Damtida, as a serial denomi- nation, does not occur. The term Daméda series, The term Damida. it will be remembered, embraced the Bardkar, the Ironstone shales, and the Ranigayj groups, and it assisted to mark off collec- tively the rocks in which the oldest coal measures occurred in the Damtida valley. More recent researches of geologists and paleontologists have, however, shewn modifications in the lithological and petrological charac- ters of these groups as they were traced beyond the area in which they were first determined. The less well-defined lines of demarcation between them, and the closer relationship that their fossil remains ( 8 ) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 9 exhibited to the underlying and overlying strata than was formerly suspected, have made it more convenient to use only group-names in comparing the succession of deposits in the separate basins. But, though thus set aside for tabular purposes in this Memoir, the term Damiida will still be borne on the strength of our vocabulary, when reference is made to the published accounts of those localities in which the word is used. The same considerations suggested the employment of a single name to embrace the entire succession of deposits ordinarily included under the designation of the great plant-bearing series. The term proposed in 1872 and adopted is that of Géndwana. The The term Géndwfna. . . . . following table gives a general view of the divi- sions and sub-divisions of this series in the several regions in which it has been examined :— Upper Géndwana. R4&jmehéil, Dabréjpur. Bandagarh ? | M&hadéva. The Kéta-Maléri group is here introduced, for the first time, into a connected classification as a member of the Upper Gondwana series. It has been brought to ( 9 ) Kéta-Maléri group. 10 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. notice in several papers published in the quarterly journal of the Geolo- gical Society of London, and also in our own Memoirs, in connection with the description of fossil remains obtained from the two localities which have been used to designate the group; but until the extension of the labours of the survey into the Wardha and Gédavari valleys, the stra- tigraphical relations of the beds in which these fossils were found were not precisely known. They overlie the Kémthi group. The Trappean series, the Vindhyans, and the Metamorphie rocks, are only briefly noticed in these pages, as they are but feebly represented within the limits of the field. The Gdéndwéna series is alluded to in detail, and yields the more important material for discussion. ( 10 ) CHAPTER II. DISTRIBUTION OF ROCKS. Secrion IV.—Metamorpraic SEries. Metamorphic rocks occur nowhere within the field, but they form the contact series along the eastern boundary, from Pohi to Mobarli, and from Mahédwéri onward to the south. The third barrier in the Godévari navigation scheme, which commences at Khirmiri on the Wardha, is due to their exposure in the river ‘bed. The valuable deposits of iron ore, which exist in the Chanda district, occur in these rocks, Section V.—VinpHYAN SERIEs. Next in ascending order, and resting unconformably upon the metamorphics, are the Vindhyans. They consist of sandstones and semi- quartzites, shales and limestones, and occur in this order, the shales being also intercalated with the limstones. They came but slightly under my observation, and I am not able to speak authoritatively as to the exact geological horizon they ought to occupy; but they are supposed to represent the lower division of the series which has been traced through Raipur and the upper courses of the Mahénadi into close proximity with them. It is not quite clear whether all the sandstones of this area which are included under the head of Vindyans ought to be classed with the lime- stones and shales as constituting a connected series, or whether they ought not to be elevated to the dignity of a separate and, perhaps, younger for- mation ; and until they are more closely examined, the doubt cannot be set at rest. A noticeable feature is the peculiarity of their distribution, the limestones and shales being confined almost entirely to the west or right side of the Wardha, and being seldom seen in contact with the ( ll ) 12 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. sandstones, while the latter occur only in slight force on that side, and occupy a large area on the east or opposite side. Sandstone group.~-The most pronounced rocks are the fine-grained, vitreous sandstones, with a uniform tinge or dashes of red through them ; the brownish sandstones and the purplish shales and quartzites more or less coarse. The most difficult to place are the sandstones, which are open in texture or highly ferruginous, They might easily be mistaken for Kémthie. There are no outcrops of this group within the field, but they are well seen in the remarkable and isolated mass of Pirzégarh, and in the table- land of Téroba. They also form the western front of Malfgarh hill of the Wiin district, which is for the most part constituted of Kamthi sandstones, As there is here no physical break between the strata of the two groups, a doubt may arise regarding the correctness of a separation ; but I think the greater degree of disturbance in the rocks that I define as Vindhyans (a disturbance corresponding with that of the Vindbyan limestones with which they are in contact), the greater metamorphism of the sandstones, and the existence of beds which are not seen in the KA4mthi group, are in favour of dissociation such as I have indicated on the map. Bearing on this question, there is an in- structive little section in a small island in the Pém Ganga, opposite Chikli, where the stratigraphical features of Mal4garh hill are repeated, buat on a minor scale, and here the decision of my colleague, Mr. King, who at my request examined the section, was “ that the quartzites (Vindhyan) are easily distinguished from the true sandstones (Géndwina).” The continuation of Malégarh hill to the south is broken by the valley of the Séwéra nala, but beyond that river the sandstones again rise and constitute Yenak hill, whose greatest elevation is 1,005 feet above the level of the sea. ( 12 ) Maligarh hill. Yenak hill. VINDHYAN SERIES. 18 By looking at the map, it will be seen that there are several lines of disturbance, and that the sandstones are divided by a band of limestone into two branches. The western branch’ sweeps round by Sindola and terminates at Kirli. The rocks are considerably indurated, and assume a quartzite character near the outer boundary ; and near Sindola they are much jointed. Towards Paramdéo they form a high scarp. Several bands of conglomerate occur, containing pebbles of hematite, from which the iron formerly made at Yenak was obtained. One of these bands is 9 feet broad in places. Where the road from Yenak to Sindola crosses a low portion of the hill, some of these conglomerates have been worn down, and a more recent laterite bed of considerable extent formed of the debris. Vindhyan sandstones appear also in Sidéshwar hill, 8 miles south of Rajir, in the Nizam’s dominions. The upper beds Sidéshwar hill. . consist of hard, coarse grits and sandstones, very _ conglomeratic in places; the lower are generally much finer in texture, and often highly vitreous. They are all more or less colored by iron. Shale group.—This group is made of earthy shales, and occasional beds of flaggy limestones. They are very fine-grained; DongerEnoe with ‘scomewhat nodular structure, and much joint- ed. When they weather they split up, like the Télchir shales, into small, thin, discoidal fragments, and an isolated outcrop of them might readily be mistaken for that series. Their usual color is some shade of red. In the northern part of the field they appear near the village of Dongargaon, about 74 miles from Warora. A considerable amount of crushing has taken place in the neighbourhood, and the character of the shales is al- tered, the disturbance having rendered them very hard and compact. The Wardha Valley State railway crosses the Dongargaon river exactly opposite to the village, and the shales afford an excellent foundation for the piers of the bridge. ( 18 ) 14 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. At Déolwara, Winjhdésan, Chirédévi, and Télw4sa inliers occur, and they are well seen on the banks of the Wardha, south of Pipri. Red shales are the predominant rocks, Limestone group.—As its designation implies, the rocks of this group are more or less calcareous, and in many instances contain a sufficiently high percentage of carbonate of lime to form a very efficient flux in the treatment of iron ores. Occasional layers of ribbon jasper are met with, and lenticular segregations of chert, but not in such abundance as in the limestones of the ixéer and tnfra trappean series. They are usually thinly bedded, and of a pale or dark-grey or buff color seldom red, like their agsociates—the shales. They cz Mandéra limestone occur in two places within the field, one at Kan- déra, 6 miles north of Warora, and the other near Belsini. From the first of these localities it is proposed to quarry the limestone, if the project of establishing blast furnaces for the production of iron at Warora be carried into execution. A large tract of these rocks borders the western boundary of the field, and magnificent sections of them are exposed in the Pém Ganga and some,of the small streams running into it. I have made no attempt to estimate even the approximate thickness of the limestones, as the sections that came under my special observation were imperfect, but there is a considerable thickness of them. No trace of organic remains has been found in any of the groups, though the physical conditions under which they No organic remains. . ; j were accumulated, judging from the evidence which their representatives elsewhere afford, appear to have been favour- able to life. There is nothing either to suggest the chance of subsequent ‘obliteration of organic remains, had they ever been imbedded and become fossilised. { 4 ) TALCHIRS. 15 Section VI.—TA oni. Resting upon, but separated by a wide gap in time from the Vindhyans comes the TA4lchir formation, the lowest group in the Géndwana series, and immediately underlying the coal measures. It occupies an area a little over 250 square miles in extent, of which 8 square miles lie on the Berar side of the Wardha river, 76 in the Nizam’s dominions, and the rest in the Chanda district. They are well seen on the banks of the Wardha near Chfnddr, and the Tdlchirs well seen near tYata are of the usual type, the highest beds being Chéndér. fine buff sandstone, often with a greenish tinge, and a tendency to weather into rounded forms and to break into poly- gonal fragments. Beneath are the typical greenish-grey silty shales and sandstones, and below them the well-known boulder bed. The most extensive and unbroken area of TAlchirs lies between" the river Wardha and the town of Chanda; it may be taken roughly as the middle of the field,—a tract devoid of coal, but around which coal occurs. On the western side of this central area the contact of the Barékars Kémthis resting direct- (Coal measures) is exposed, but on the eastern side, ly on Télchirs. from Bhéndak to Chénda, it is not seen, owing to the KAmthis overlapping the Bard&kars and resting directly on the Talchirs. The extent of this overlap has not been determined, but it is probable that a considerable horizontal allowance will have to be made, if search for coal is instituted in that direction, especially as T4lchirs appear in the low ground near Walwat, favouring the view that they underlie the zone between that village and the central area at a small depth below the surface. At Bh&ndak the shallowness at which they occur was proved in a boring put down through the Kémthis, which struck green silt-shales at about 30 feet. On the Berar side of the Wardha a thin strip of Télchirs occurs, stretching from Karamna, 4 miles north-north-east of Win, to P&ndar- ( 1b )) 16 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. “ kaura, in the neighbourhood of Pisgaon; and a very restricted area is exposed in the vicinity of Chikli-Tékli. In the Nizam’s dominions the T4lchirs occupy the greater portion of the ground from the Pém Ganga to Gaori and Sésti. Here they dip under the coal measures and K4mthis, but appear again further to the south, along the edge of the field, and extend as far as Antargaon, where they are finally lost sight of. The Télchirs are easily recognizable throughout ; their mineral features and mode of weathering being quite in accord with their aspect and behaviour in other parts of India. Having said this, it will be unnecessary to enter into lithological details, as the memoirs of the Survey already published contain several notices of these rocks. I have, however, to allude toa very interesting discovery of flexible sandstone made by Mr. Fedden in two localities during his examin- ation of that portion of the field in the Nizam’s dominions lying south of the Pém Ganga. He first observed it amongst the sandstones east of Chérli, then again in the Khairgaon nala west of Naéndgaon. He de- scribes the bed as a “highly felspathic, open sandstone, softish, crumbling under the finger, and of a white, grey, or reddish colour.” The well-known flexible sandstone of India comes from Kalifna, 5 miles west of Dédri, a town in the Jhind State, 60 miles nearly due west of Dehli. It ia only found in patches, in a band of millstone quartzite, belonging to the Arvali series, and its peculiar property is supposed by Professor Haughton to be due to the particles of sandstone which occur in the Fiexible sandstone. rock, not being in contact with one another, but lying in a paste of fels- pathic clay, which paste permits a certain amount of motion between the particles of the mass.* In addition to the discovery of flexible sandstone, Mr. Fedden had the good fortune to find the missing link of evi- Evidence of ice-action. ; dence that was required to prove the agency of © Records, Geological Survey of India, 1874, Vol. VII, Part I, page 30. ( 16 ) TALCHIRS. 17 ice in the formation of the boulder bed of the Télchir series, and thus confirmed Mr. Blanford’s original supposition (which was published in 1856 * in the Memoir on the Télchir Coal-field)’ that the boulders had been transported by ground-ice. When this hypothesis was suggested, no direct testimony, such as grooved and polished boulders or scored rock-surfaces, had been obtained in confirmation of the general evidence, on the strength of which Mr. Blanford had been led to infer the former existence of glacial conditions. His theory, therefore, although affording an apparently satisfactory solu- tion of the observed facts, was still not altogether beyond the limits of discussion ; and after subsequent investigations in the Réniganj field and other localities had failed to elicit the required corroborative evidence, attempte were made to explain the formation of the boulder bed without resort to the somewhat startling supposition of icy masses in a tropical country. Mr. Fedden has, however, now removed all doubt, and shewn in his paper ‘On the evidence of ground-ice in tropical India during the Télchir period,” contributed to the Records, that Mr. Blanford’s original view was the right one. The observations confirming this were made near the little village of Irai, on the right bank of the Pém River, not quite a mile above its confluence with the Wardha, and 10 miles west-south-west of Chénda. A boulder bed, containing some beautifully-polished and scored boulders, rests upon a floor of compact Vindhyan limestones, which, when freshly exposed, is found to be striated and grooved in long parallel lines in the manner so familiar to glacialists. Some of the stris are concealed by a thin crust of calcareous matter which has been deposited subsequent to the removal of the boulder bed, but it can beeasily chipped off. It helps to preserve the scorings, which appear to be soon obliterated if. without this covering. The surface features of the neighbourhood do not offer any support to the view that a glacier ever reached the spot under # Memoirs, Geological Survey of India, Vol. I. ( 17 ) 18 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. notice, as for many miles round there is nocommanding elevation of rock older than the Télchirs from which an ice-stream could have descended ; and as the boulder bed iteelf presents characters quite unhke the ordinary moraine deposits of glaciers, one being its frequently well-marked lamina- tion, the circumstances of the case lead to the supposition of ground-ice as the agent by which the boulders were transported.* In the immediate vicinity of Irai the boulders are for the most part small, a few attaining a major diameter of 2 to 24 feet. Three specimens are now In our museum, and they illustrate admirably the effect that the sort of attrition they have undergone produces. The finest of them is of hard, dense, close- grained syenitic granite, of which one side is polished and scored, and the opposite one free from marks. The stris ran parallel with the major axis of the boulder. In this field no record of any organism has been obtained from the Tal- Boulders-in museum. No Fauna or Flore. chirs. Elsewhere, however, fronds of Gangamopteris and seed vessels have from time to time been found ; and lately, my colleague, Dr. Feistmantel, by a happy blow of his ham- mer on a cabinet specimen of TAlchir shale,t diselosed the wing of a neuropterous insect, that now has the distinction of being the earliest animal remain known in the GéndwaAna series. Szorion VII.—Barakxar Group. In Bengal, where the eoal-bearing rocks are most fully developed, they are classed as upper and lower coal-meagures, a series of ironstone shales separating them thus :— 1. R&niganj group, or upper eoal-measures. 2. Ironstone shales group. 3. Barakar group, or lower coal-measures, * See Fedden’s paper for a fuller exposition. Records, Geological Survey of India, 1875, Vol. VITI, Part 1, page 16. + The rock sample is labelled as coming from “ Kumar, pergunnah Saruth-Deoghar, Bhirbhém. ( 18 ) EE we eee _ BARAKAR GROUP. 19 In the Wardha valley, it is only possible to identify the Bargkars, there being no rocks with the mineral aspect of the No lithologically re- Ironstone shales, or the lithological features of the cognizable Ironstone . . shales or Raniganjs. Réniganj group. It may be, however, that the whole, or a portion, of the K4mthi series represents them in time. As all the workable coal which has been found, or is likely to be found, in the Wardha field, is contained in the Bar&kar group, I shall describe as fully as I can its distribution and its composition, and also indicate, for the benefit of those who may wish to become proprietors of coal lands, the positions’ best suited to their purpose. Such suggestions do not, asa rule, form part of a geological memoir, but I believe they will prove useful to venturers in a field so little known as that of the Wardha valley. The knowledge acquired of the composition of the rocks and their order of succession, is due far more to the details ascertained by borings, than to any natural sections; for, with the exception of one in the Wardha river near the boundary separating the lands of Ghigds, from those of Chéndir, and another near Télws4, there is not a connected exposure of the group in any part of the field. The general order of succession is (descending) :— 1. Thick seam of coal. 2. Sandstones and shales. 8. A few thin carbonaceous beds. 4. Sandstones and shales. T4lchirs. The above section was proved to hold good wherever bore-holes were carried down through the entire series. There is a horizon of coal at the top or near the top of the group, but it seldom appears at the outcrop junction of the Bardkars and Kémthis, owing to its being usually over- lapped. ( 19 ) ~ 20 HUGHES: WABDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. The most marked bands of sandstone beneath the coal are: very fine- grained light grey sandstones with minute specks copnndstones Penesth of ferruginous quartz; fine-grained quartzose sandstones with some iron pyrites and streaks of carbonaceous matter ; and extremely hard, fine-grained whitish sandstones. Whenever any specimens of the above-described rocks are brought up by the boring machine, it is useless to go down deeper in the hope of meet- ing withcoal. The pyritiferous sandstones, especi- ally, are good indicators of position, and ought to be carefully noted. Pyritiferous sandstone. The ordinary sandstones are not so fine in texture as those just de- scribed, but resemble more the typical felspathic silicious sandstones of the Damuidé valley. Calca- reous matter enters into the composition of some of them, but notably into that of the bed directly under the top coal. A nodular appearance on the weathered surface of the rock is produced by it, which cannot fail Nodular sandstone. to catch the eye, and which is seldom seen on any other sandstone. In the northern part of the field this character is of great use in limiting the cireuit of search for coal. The thickness of the group nowhere exceeds 250 feet. This compares poorly with its development in Bengal, where, as in the Jhermia field, it attains a serial thickness of 8,300 feet. The general dip is low. The distribution of the Bardkars is very broken, and the area they occupy at the surface is extremely small, when compared with that of either the T4lchirs or Kémthis. As every reliable determination of the Barékars was useful in narrow- ing the possibility of failure in the attempt to trace the extension of the top coal, which is only seen in three pjaces in the field, the identification of the group was-made as thoroygh as possible. I do not think any outcrops of the Bardékars, even of the very smallest dimensions, have ( 20 ) Thickness of Bardkars: CHANDA DISTRICT. 21 escaped detection, a statement that I cannot make so confidently with regard to any of the other series in the field. Further, as the interest in the coal-measures is more intimately con- nected with the history of the borings than with the mere enumeration . of localities in which unproductive Bardékars rise to the surface, I shall particularise the bore-holes; and in grouping my remarks, will first de- scribe the results attained in the Chfnda district, then those obtained in the Wiin district, and lastly those in the Nizam’s dominions. In the progressive discovery of the thick coal, no borings were started in Barfkars (by the Survey), after the experience of the first few trials showed that it invariably occurred at or near the top of the measures, and that it was usually over-lapped. To find the coal with some degree of certainty, the bore-holes were commenced in the K&mthis, or other overlying series. Most of the positions in the Win district, a few in the Nizam’s dominions, and some in the Ch&nda district, were indicated by the Survey : the rest; were chosen by the various officers of the Central Provinces, who from time to time were in charge of the collieries at Ghigus and Warora; by Mr. Smyth, Assistant Superintendent of the Government trial pits at Pisgaon; and by the Superintendents of His Highness the Nizam’s boring establishments at Sdsti and Rajur. Chinda District. The mostnortherly outcropof Bar&kars in the Chanda district, and indeed in the whole field, is in the Lalgh&t river where it flows between the two deserted villages of Bail- gaon and Kandara. The rocks are sandstones dipping low, and the prevalent direction is E. 10° N. Near the boundary of the K4amthis, however, it is almost due north. An attempt to prove coal in this locality was made by Mr. Fryar, who selected two sites for bore-holes: one near the junction of the Atmirdih and Laélgh&t rivers, and another on the left bank of the former stream. These were not successful, the first one ( 21 ) Lélghét river. 22 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. having been sunk in Bar&kars, and the second not put sufficiently to the deep of the other. A more recent endeavour to reach coal in sites selected by myself failed to achieve any further practical result than to demonstrate that the red clays of the K4mthis occur at no great depth from the surface, and that it was impossible, in the absence of piping, to keep the holes clean. There is no reason to suppose that coal does not exist, and I believe it would be met with, judging from results in other parts of the field, at a depth of about 160 feet below the clays. None of the ground outside Bailgaon and Kandéra was tested, as the indications of the probability of striking coal in shallow bores were not promising. The extension of the Bardkars east and west of the Laélgh&t river is obscured by alluvium, and to the south they are cut off by a fault, the continuation of the one near Dongargaon. Near Nimséra, there are several little patches of sandstones which are difficult to identify. They may be Barékars, but I have placed them in the Kaémthi series, There is no well-defined dip; it appears to be easterly and low. Coal would very likely be found at an easy depth between Nimséra and the main Négptir and Chanda road. The best line for boring on will bear E. 65°S. from the village. In the neighbourhood of Khairgaon, a locality is marked on the map where the coal probably comes close to the surface. Not a trace of Bar&kar sandstone or shale is visible, but the Kaémthi beds that are exposed belong to the lower portion of their series, Some borings were made near Aikona under Mr. Fryar’s direction, where a small body of Bar&kars is exposed in the Dehwal nala. None of them were successful in their purpose, which was to cut the coal oa the left bank of the Wardha, opposite the point where it had been pre- ( 22) Nimséra. Khairgaon. CHANDA DISTRICT. 98 viously proved at Z&gra on the other side of the river. The first hole was commenced many feet below the coal, being placed in the Bar&kar sandstone cropping out at the ght between Aikéna and Nilja. The site of the others were also ill- chosen, being near the west boundary of the field, and in presumably troubled ground. The direction in which the coal is more likely to be Aikéna ; no coal, found is east and south-east of the Dehwal ; but there are heavy deposits of surface gravels and soils, and the top coal may have been swept away . even as far as the village. It would be safer to try N.-E. of Aikéna, near the outcrop of the K&mthis. The greater portion of the field to the south of Khairgaon for a dis- tance of nearly ten miles is occupied by alluvium which obscures the underlying recks. Bore-holes, however, have been put down through it in the vicinity of Kanji, Warora, Akfépirand Akarjin, and disclose the fact that the coal-measures occur in a basin to the east of Warora ata depth vary- ing from 68 to 285 feet below the surface of the ground. From the data supplied to me by Mr. Ness (the present Superintendent of the Warora Colliery), I find that over 40 bore-holes were commenced_and coal cut in twenty-six of them. It is not quite clear that the top eoal‘oceurs in all, but in 19, at all events, it appears to have been satisfactorily proved, and the shape of the basin was pretty accurately defined. It lies south of the 66th mile-stone, its northern limit being roughly the latitude of the staging bungalow. The western barrier skirts the tank, and runs southward towards Saimbal. The eastern boundary beable boundary of i, conjectural to some extent, but it probably roughly follows the inside of the line from Aképtr to Nénd&ri. At the latter village the coal has been proved to be absent, which will throw the boundary to the west. The southern extremity of the basin has not been traced, but the most probable conjecture is, that the coal-measures stretch in the direction ( 23 ) Warorsa, Kanji, Akapér, Akarjan. 94 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY OOAL-FIELD. of Saimbal ; for near Vislone and Parfsgaon, on the left bank of the Sir nala, Télchirs are seen at the surface. The first hole successful in striking coal was No. 7, about 4 a mile east of Warora (September ]870), and soon after Noy bie in the steam-borer that had been removed from the Jharpat and brought to Warora, passed into coal at a depth of 176'6" from the surface. As this position was to the deep of the first spot in which coal was proved, and would open up a larger workable area, it was selected for the site of a colliery. Several adverse circumstances, such as frequent changes in the executive charge, inadequate machinery, and extraordinary influx of water, at first delayed the progress of sinking ; but at the latter end of 1878 Mr. Ness, a mining engineer of very considerable experience at home, was appointed Superintendent, and since then, all contingencies having been provided for, the work has pro- ceeded regularly. A winding pit (No. 2) is being sunk to relieve the first one of a part of its present duties, and will probably be completed in time to set the colliery in full working order when the railway now in course of construction is brought to Warora. I do not hap- pen to have for reference the record of No. 1 pit- bore, but the section of Bl bore-hole near the pit will illustrate the succes- sion of the rocks equally well :— Bore-hole B 1. Alluvium. Ft. In. 1. Dark clay ove ove oo oes 7 6 2. Brown clay eee ove ~- 16 O 8. Variegated clay eee ose ose 4 0 Kdmths. 4. Light brown sandstone (soft) 5. Brown sandstone wee 6. Red sandstone ... woe 7. Brown sandstone ove 8. Fine brown sandstone 9. Brown sandstone 10. Ironstone oe ( 24 ) ewe Bb wo o — a ee > ee > CHANDA DISTRICT. 25 11. Brown sandstone eee 12. Yellow sandstone oe ese 13. Shale ose eee 14. Light brown clay wee 15. Brown clay... one 16. Soft brown sandstone 17. Yellow sandstone 18. Soft brown sandstone 19. Variegated sandstone - Sao Swuronad B ecoooSoMmoo$os Barékar. 20. Shale ove ove oes ose 0 6 21. Coal seams tee vee wo 48 0 Coal ove ove aes 4! 0” Shale oes aa ove 2 0 Coal with shale woe vee 3! 6" Shale mixed with coal _... oes 2’ id Coal ee .° 16! Shale ooo ove oe V 0” White sandstone ee 2 0 Shale ose eee . 1! id White sandstone vee aes 2! 6” Coal with shale oe '¢ 6” Coal aes ooo wo Li! 0” Coal mixed with shale... ose 3 ‘tid 22. White sandstone : pond b— oO TOTAL 8 The coal in this hole was struck at 172' 8”. Drifts are at present being driven in the 15 feet coal, about 6 feet high, leaving 6 to 7 feet of coal above, and 3 to 4 feet on the floor. The coal has been variously tested, and found capable of good work, when freshly raised. It has a tendency to split, and if exposed to the rains, crumbles. There is a con- siderable quantity of iron-pyrites scattered through the seam in nodules and strings, and the amount of sulphur determined by analysis was large. A good deal of water is held by the coal, but this will diminish to ( 25 ) Character of coal. 26 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. — some extent when the pit becomes drier. At present (1875) the influx of water is enormous. Mr. Ness tells me that in the “rains” he has to raise over 600 gallons a minute to keep his workings open, which, considering the small depth of the pit, is unparalleled throughout India. The following bore-holes were those in which thick coal was cut. The levels given are of the surface of the ground. I. II. III. IV. Vv, . . REMARKS Thickness | Thickness |Depth from| Level of ° No. of hole. of seam. | of coal. surface. surface. ee | ee | ee | eee | pe 1 80 01176 6 760 | Steam-borer. No. 1 pit. 8 17 0 | 122 0 749 6 10 0; 69 0 739 No. 6 and E are close to each other. 7 15 0O;102 O 7389 =| (Sep. 1870. E 10 6 | 63 0 739 G 11 0; 80 0 736 L ; 12 O | 115 0 783 In place of H, which was lost. O 14 0| 94 8 730 p 13 9| 95 9 730 R 22 6 | 243 0 788 Struck two thin seams higher up. 8 12 9 | 126 0 726 Bl 45 6; 380 6 | 172 8 759 Near pit (May 1873.) El. 14 6]! 79 0 740 Between Nos. 6 and 7. Gl. 88 9| 31 9152 6 "68 | (Sep. 1878). Five hundred feet from pit N. W. Hi 60 3} 20 9 | 215 0) 758 This is 600 feet from pit S. E. Mi. 37 4{/ 34 10] 149 Sl 85 0| 27 C (Dec. 1878.) Ul 47 6/ 48 8 Shale and coaly shale 3'-3”". Sandstone 1'-0". wi. 86 O} 386 O (January 1874.) CHANDA DISTRICT. 97 The exactness of the foregoing figures in columns II and III must not be too closely criticised: for, in computing either the total thick- ness of the seam, or the total quantity of coal in the seam by reference to the journals, if must‘ be borne in mind that the degrees of coal, coaly shale, and shale, may be varyingly estimated by different people. What really is coal may be entered as coaly shale, and vice versd; and the totals will, of course, be affected accordingly. With this source of possible error, I think it is unnecessary to compare each section in detail. A broad fact is patent, that the bore-holes east of the line joining Nos. 7 and S entered thick coal, and ¢Aaé coal is the continuation of the seam proved elsewhere in the field. -” The coal comes close to the surface near the tank, and sinks in the direction of Aképir and Aké4rjin. Taking the three borings S1., W1. and U1, the inclination in that part of the basin is 1 in 18, or about 8°*, The general dips are Dip. . indicated on the map. The coal does not extend to Nandiri, a boring having been put down near the village that passed from the Kém-. No coal at Néndari. this into Tflchirs. The section of the hole in full is— Section of Ndudtri bore-hole. No. Ft. In. 1 Surface soil... ose ove ne 3.—CO88 Kédmthis. 2 Yellow sandstone ove ves nee 2 0 3 White sandstone micaceous... we vee 1 0 4 Variegated sandstone 2 O 5 Red sandstone ... 2 O 6 Brown sandstone micaceous—_. wes aoe 2 0 7 Yellow sandstone 5 0O * Authority.—Mr. Ness, Superintendent, Warora Colliery. ( 27 ) 28 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. No. Ft. In. 8 White sandstone... a ~ wo 7 0 9 Brown sandstone -~ oe 7 0 10 Yellow sandstone oo 8 0 11 Red clay a - ~ 4 0 12 Light red clay . - wn -~ 8 0 18 Variegated ferroginous sandstone. ~~ 3 0 14 Light brown sandstone, highly micaccous -~ 6 0 15 Yellow clay os ~ ww 4 0 16 Coarse variegated sandstone... - ~ 2 6 17 Coarse red sandstone on we - 1 6 18 Light grey clay a - -~ & 0 19 Red sandstone . oe - w 10 6 20 Ironstone, very hard on - - 2 6 21 Hard ferruginous sandstone .., - ow 8 6 22 Coarse red sandstone ~ ws on 7 6: 23 Lightclay =... wo ~ 6 0 24 Red sandstone ... - oe tee 6 0 25 Brown sandstone on we ~ 6 0 26 Red sandstone .. ” ~ ~ 1 27 Greyish white rock os a ow 1 9 28 Brown sandstone ~ oo - 6 Oo 29 Yellow sandstone woe oe ~ 4 6 30 Red sandstone .. ~ tee w~ 8 6 31 Hard red ironstone ae - - OO 6 32 Red sandstone ... ~ - -~ 4 0 33 Dark red sandstone ~ on ~ 4 0 34 Télchire one on ~ a 2h 6 Whether the absence of the thick coal is to be attributed to original limitation of deposition, or to denudation, is a point upon which I hesi- tate to pass a definite opinion. ( 28 ) CHANDA DISTRICT. 29 The K4mthis overlap the Barékars in several places, which might be considered a proof of the upheaval and denudation of the Barékars, but this overlapping may be the natural result of depression during deposition. The attenuation of the coal on the west edge of the Warora basin may suggest original limitation; but I see no reason why an advocate of post-Barékar denudation should not quote the circumstance as evi- dence in favour of his view, and perhaps with some show of reason, for if we compare the sections P. S1 and M1, which are all close to one another, a decrease from 34’ 10” of coal to 12' 9" would be a most sudden and unusual tailing off.* Some of the Warora bore-holes are quite outside the thick seam, as for instance, the one between the school and the town, which, starting in Kaémthis, went down 249 feet without striking coal. This is only 800 yards from No. VL, in which coal was proved at 69 feet (surface level nearly the same). Warora bore-holes. In D., that is only 200 yards to the rise of VI., the coal was also missed. K., which is to the rise of P. (coal at 96’ 0”) was sunk 128’ 5” but no coal found (surface level of K., lower than P.). J. is also outside the coal, and likewise M. All this evidence proves how rapidly and abruptly the coal disappears. And whether due to original attenuation, or to denudation, it shows that unconformity of overlap exists between the coal-measures and the Kémthis. And it follows as a consequence of this relationship, that the existence of representatives of the upper series of rocks is not always proof of the existence of the lower, underneath. ® It is just possible, in explanation of this great contrast, that the bore-holes along the western edge of the basin were not carried to the bottom of the seam. I have not the journals of the earlier borings, and take my figures from the plan of the bore-holes furnish- ed me by Mr. Ness. The journals of Bl to W1 have been supplied. ( 29 ) 30 HUGHES: WARDITA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. At Majri Bardkars, appear at the edge of the alluvium. They are - considerably disturbed near the base in places, and Méjri, seam 50 8”. . ; many of the dips range as high as 22° and 40°. There are three well-defined faults. A boring was put down, about half a mile south-west of the village, but it proved nothing, as it was stopped at 86 feet 8 inches in green clay of the Kémthis, which, with other beds of clay above it, gave much trouble. Another site was consequently selected by myself nearer to the Wardha river, and here coal was found at 75 feet from the surface. Thickness including partines 50’ 8”. Dip 12°. The seam could not be proved in the Kangra lands, for a trial bore situated to the N.-N.-E. of the village, after Kinéra. No coal. . ; passing through the K4mthis, entered sandstones belonging to the horizon below the coal. On the other side of the Wardha at Agdsi, the same result was ob- tained. According. to expectation, coal ought to Agési. No coal. . e . have been found; but it may just be possible that sufficient allowance was not made for overlap; and as long as such a probability exists, the question of the coal having been denuded pre- vious to the deposition of the Kamthis cannot be decided by the evi- dence of these holes. One thing, however, is clear, and that is, that Kiindra is an unproductive portion of the field. Near Chargaon and Dhorwésa, the Bardkars are seen in almost their full strength. There is no exposure of coal, and there is scarcely any room for it to come in between the Wardha and the boundary of the K4mthis. The rocks dip in a westerly direction. The nodular sandstone which occurs immediately below the coal is exposed in the Wardha at the water-ghat of Tél- w4sa, and may be here studied by those who wish to become acquainted with its appearance. It is an excellent guide in the northern part of the field to the position of the coal. ( 30 ) Télwdsa, seam 58’ 10”. CHANDA DISTRICT. 81 Thick coal was proved in the bend of the river a short distance above the ghat, but the workable area is too small for any practical utility. The section of the hole was— Ft. In. Surface soil... ves sae vas as 29-2 Kémthi eee ses vee eee ». 82 6 Bardkar. 1. Brown clay vee eve wee » 8 8 2, Clay mixed with shale’... wes aes » O11 8. Black shale eas eee oes . Iii _ 4, Coal seam... vee ee vee .. 58 10 a. Coal ... we vee coe LY OW 6. Shale... soe eee Pe Gai + od c. Coal ... eee vee . & &Y ° d. Shale... vs we ww. 17 9 e. Coal ... ves one oe ll’ 2” 6. Shale ° ... vee oes eos wv 49 6. Shale mixed with sandstone eee nee we «CdD 7, White sandstone mixed with dark coaly shale... . 8 6 As many as 42 samples of the coal brought up at different depths from this hole* were assayed by Mr. Tween, and they gave an average composition of— | Carbon... see ves ve oe §=48°94 Volatile matter ene eee ode coe 83°15 Ash eee ese oe@ eee eee 22°91 100'00 Portions of the seam are much better, as, for instance, the lower 1] feet of (2) which average about— Carbon ... vee ees eee eo» 80°00 Volatile matter eos eee eee eee 82-00 Ash eee eee aee eee ees 18°00 100°00 * Records, Geological Survey of Indis, 1870, Volume ILI, Part 2, page 49. ( 81 ) 32 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY OOAL-FIELD. Compared with the class of coal from the Réniganj field that finds its way into the market, and commands the largest sale, this is inferior, no doubt, but it is of a serviceable standard. The Bardkars south of Télw4sa are faulted against Vindhyan shales. They do not appear again until they show in the lands of Ghigts, Ghigts coal and in the Wardha. Here one of the earliest dis- coveries of coal by Major Lucie-Smith was made, and a pit was opened and sunk toa depth of 30 feet. A considerable quantity of coal for experimental trials was raised from it, after which the pit was abandoned, as it was within the limits of the ordinary flood level of the Wardha. Another pit, 10 feet in diameter, was commenced about 300 yards from the river, where the precaution had been thken to previously prove the coal. The recorded section of the boring at this it is— P Ft. In. 1, Surface clay 8 0 2. Red moorum ese, ove ase ose 5 0 8. Variegated sandstone ase see vee eee 40 0 4. White sandstone . tes oT see 8 0 5. Yellow clay one aoe see nes aes 6 0 6. Dark-brown clay ee ee wee vee 10 0 7. Black shale... aes ane eee ove 2 0 8. Coal seam toe oes wee eee wes 47 6 a. Coal oes wes vee vee -- §«©8' ~Q! b. Dark sandy shale wee ves ves . «=—oE c. Coal see oes ee nee we «= 8s 0" d. Blue shale _.. ove ove vee aw. «=CséBsCé" e. Coal see ses see ase .. 12' OF Jf. Coal mixed with pyrites ... vee wee | id g. Coal ses wee see ves ee a h. Shale ees ees vee eee . «=2«CF #6 i. Coal(not all cut through) ase oes »» Ll! 0° Toran .. 121 6 The pit was visited by Lord Mayo, and ceremoniously opened by | him in March 1870. In commemoration of the Mayo pit. : . circumstance, it was named the Mayo shaft. ( 82 ) CHANDA DISTRICT. 33 As may be inferred, the quality of the coals in such a large seam varies. There are some bands of very fair excellence. The average composition of 382 specimens brought up from the bore-hole is about the same as that of the Télw4sa coalse— Ghigts. Télwdea, Carbon see . 46°61 Carbon ove we 49°94 Volatile matter... we ©6988°49 Volatile matter... we. 33°16 Ash eoe ees 20°90 Ash ese eco 22°91 These averages are given for the purpose of general comparison only, and do not prove the practical superiority of one seam over another, as it is quite possible that a band of workable coal in the seam giving the lowest average may be more fitted for a special purpose than any found in the other. When in fall working order, about 70 tons of coal were raised monthly at the Mayo colliery, some of which was used for the steam borer, and some by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. The results obtained with it were sufficiently assuring to show that the coal might be relied upon for steam service. The galleries were driven into the upper portion of the seam, The pit is now abandoned owing to the advantage of position possessed by the Warora basin. Two additional bore-holes were put down, one nearly due west of Ghigus, and one at the edge of the Wardha, south of Nékéra, to prove the variation in the seam. Nokéra seam 90’ 8”, The following are the sections :— Ghigis. Ft. In. Coal seams... bes eee os ove 76 8 a. Coal... ove eee ove . 3 0 6. Shale mixed with coal oe ose . 2 ce. Coal... eee ses ove a. 3 O d. Sandy shale mixed with coal... oe aw 6 OF e. Coal... aes vee ee . 4 0 J. Black shale mixed with coal... one - FF O B ( 33 ) 84 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. g. Coal wm _ one ave aes wo TO A. Sandy shale ove aes ove ~ 10° 6 4. Coal . vee ewe oe 21' & je Sandy shale wee se eos ww Of 2 k. Coal aes eee oes » 10 0 White sandstone. Noék6ra. Ft. In. Coal seams... wes oes see eae 90 8 a. Coal ve ves ves . 4 0 b. Sandy shale with a trace of coal... ane o 2' 10° c. Coal... vee ves ees ~ 8 6 d. Dark sandy shale... aes ove 6 OM e. Coaly shale with coal wee "ees wo. (@ f. Black shale sas as - ... 16! 10” g- Coal (inferior) es ee ase . 4 0 h. Coal... vee one ove . 6! 4. Sandstone mixed with shale... ase 58 O j. Very dark shale... ves owe - 3 OF k. Dark sandy shale ... eve aoe ». 2' 10’ “. Coal =m ove ove ase . 21’ 8 m. White sandy shale ... wee ove . OF 2 m. Coal... aes eee owe .. 13 Of White sandstone. The sections of the lower portion of this seam are essentially the same throughout the whole of the Ghigus basin, the variations being confined to the upper part, considerable thickening taking place along the strike from north to south. The coal area is about 3 square miles. It appears to be more on the map, but the Kamthis overlap the measures near Nékéra, for which a deduction must be made. The dips are moderate near the Mayo pit, not exceeding 8°, but lower down the river they increase to 12°. Less water at Ghigés They are not excessive, however, and as we have than at Pisgaonand War- in the Ghigts field ample coal, dry rocks and little disturbance, there is scarcely a doubt ( 34 ) OHANDA DISTRICT. 85 that this area will some day be a valuable property. At present, Warora has the immense advantage of superior facilities of communication. This brings to an end the most important results attained by borings in the Chanda district. I have still to refer to attempts made to find the thick coal, but they are of minor interest, having been unsuccessful. They remain, however, as records, During the earlier operations of proving the extension of the coal measures, several spots for boring were selected near the town of Chénda by Mr. Fryar. Under Chénda; no thick coal. his directions the first bore-hole was commenced in the beginning of June 1869, close to the south- east corner of the boundary of the Nagina Bagh, north of the native town of Ch&nda. It was carried down to a depth of 80 feet, and then stopped, as the material bored through continued to be simply stiff sand. A second bore was commenced 230 feet from the first in the direction of the dip of the rocks, about east 15° north, but with no better result A third, about } of a mile still further to the deep, and near the junction of the Chimmétr and Négpitir road, struck 2 thin seams only, of 2” 0’ and 1’ 6’, belonging evidently to the lower portion of the measures. A sample from each bed was assayed, and yielded— Carbon. Volatile. Ash. 2’0" bed 47°38. 41:0 11°2 1’6” bed 42°7 41-2 16'1 A fourth boring was made near the dak bungalow, to the west-by- south, and between the bungalow and the Jharpat nala, but it did not reach coal, and was abandoned. Mr. Binnie, however, who put down a hole 500 feet to the east of this, is said to have cut some coal, but it was probably a thin seam like those found in No. 8 of Mr. Fryar’s selection. Looking at the appearance of the sandstone near the dak bungalow, one cannot but be struck by its resemblance to the nodular Bardkar sandstone below the coal; but I am not prepared to maintain that it is a member of that group, for its stratigraphical relations are ( 35 ) 36 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. such that it could not be in the position it is without the intervention of faults, for which I could obtain no evidence a ntones like Baré- Whatever. If the section of the Jharpat and the grounds adjoining it be examined, commencing near the southern gate of Victoria Street (Chénda town), and going as far as the tombs of the Gond kings which are opposite to the dak bungalow, rocks are seen at the beginning of the section which certainly have all the characters of Kémthi sandstones. The dip is east and a little north, and this direction is maintained whenever the rocks are seen throughout Lélpet B&bipet, and as far as the tombs. There is, there- fore, an ascending series from the Victoria Street Gate ; and as the sand- stones which crop to the surface there are of characteristic Kamthi type, the sandstone near the dak bungalow must be of younger age than the Bardkar period. On the other hand, if the appearance of the sandstones be thought to be conclusive as to ite affinities, then the aid of faults must be sought. There is no sign of disturbance, however, and it would be more in conformity with the stratigraphical evidence to include it as a Kfmthi sandstone, presenting in a portion of its lateral extension a likeness to the nodular Bardkar sandstone beneath the coal. Many of the sandstones of the Kémthis are as calcareous as that below the coal, and though this nodular appearance is usually a specific character exhibited by the latter bed, it is quite possible that in this instance a local development of the feature has taken place. About 2 miles from Chanda on the Muhl road, where it crosses the Jharpat, a hole was sunk 248 feet without striking Tharpat. Unsuccessful rng. coal. At that depth it was stopped, as the progress made was extremely slow, and arrangements were in contemplation for testing the field in that direction by the steam borer which had recently arrived from England. As events happened, it is a matter of regret that this hole was not persevered with for 50 or 60 feet ( 36 ) CHANDA DISTRICT. , 37 more, within which depth the presence or absence of the top coal would possibly have been determined, for the steam borer, when fitted and placed in position, failed utterly to throw any light on the sequence of the underlying measures, being unable to penetrate more than 189 feet owing to the sandstones running and effectually impeding further progress. Some time was spent in trying to clean the hole, and then the boring machine was removed to Warora. The prospect of finding coal where these trial sites were chosen is, “I think, a fair one, as a considerable allowance has been made to avoid the possible extension in this direction of the unproductive area proved near the bungalow. At Ballérpfr, several attempts were made to find within British limits BallérpGr. Unsuccess- the coal that crops out on the Nizam’s side of the fol search for thick coal. Wardha, and the first boring was put down nearly opposite the point where the coal is seen. It was unfortunately injudi- ciously selected, being within the limits of the old bed of the river, and was abandoned as there was not tubing enough to carry the hole through the running sand and gravel met with. Bombay analyst. B shaft aes « 11°09 C » vas -. 8-09 Outcrop in Wardha w 9°80 Tw. wee ve 408 on Warora— Seam now worked . 140 by rs we 146 SO 99 oo. 16°65 Tween. Télwdsa— Average of best portion of seam 19°06 Tween. Ghiigis— Average result of all the ana- a lyses se ve 20°90 Tween. Kimbéri— From near outcrop ... 1450 Tween. Pisgaon— Bottom 4 feet of seam ~- 16°70 Tween. Tenth to 12th foot w» 17°60 Ness. The percentage of ash in the SAsti cvals is in some instances less, and in no case much in excess of the Réniganj average, which is 145. (c.) Sudpkhur.—The sulphur was only determined in a few samples, and the highest return is that of the Warora coal. The pyrites occur in nests, and as spsngling the surface of occasional pieces of coal for several square inches in extent. The larger masses might be picked out by hand, but the pyrites that occur as minute crystals on the laming of the coal could not be separated unless the coal were crushed, and then subsequently washed. 25 Ness. Warora oes eee es ove ‘96 Bombay analyst. 2°85 Tween. Ghigtis _... ove oes «. °22 Bombay analyst. Kuimbéri__... ove woe wee °85 Tween. Sésti 7 - . . { -77 Tween. Traces. Bombay analyst. ( 105 ) 106 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. No determination of the sulphur in the Pisgaon coal was made, but, judging from appearance, it ought to be freer from this substance than the coal at Warora. It occurs more in nodules than in small crystals, and might with much more facility be eliminated by mechanical means. For the Warora coal, Mr. Ness’ result of only °25 per cent. of sulphur strikes me as being much too small a proportion, and 2°85 per cent. is perhaps too high an average, the sample that yielded that amount being probably an exceptionally dirty one. (d.) Moisture.—The presence of a large amount of moisture is obviously objectionable, not merely as being so much dead weight, but as actually reducing the temperature obtainable by combustion. The ineffective portion of the coal is represented by the water and the ash, and this amounts to-—— Water. Ash. Warora eee -. 9°55 + 18°00 = 22°55 Ness. 13°90 + 1420 = 28:10 Tween. Pisgaon ee 13°30 + 15°70 = 29:00 Tween. 7:70 + 21°60 = 29°30 Tween. 72 + 214 = 286 Tween. Sasti ose ~ 45 + 98 =143 Tween. Kémbéri_... wo. 80 + 145 = 22:5 Tween. Antargaon ... . 87 + 188 = 275 Tween. 69 + 384 = 45:3 Tween. The coals of the Wardha valley and those of the Géddévari hold much more water than those in the Raniganj basin, as may be seen in the following comparative tables. Radniganj field. Géddvari fields. Mohanptr ese 1:0 per cent. Dimigidiem »- 47°O per cent. Benodakatta .. 10d 99 ” - 86 9 Diméktnda wo 20 5; ” -~ GO yg Sénktoria 22, » ». 100 Sitéramp6r ow. 24 » Kaméram we 65 ” Bibré ... . 80 , - . 61, RagtinAthbati . 34 4 Singaréni - 60 ,, Banli,,. - 40 ” Nigia ... - 60 , Mangalpir o 5&8 ., ( 106 ) ECONOMIC, 107 (c.) Phosphoric acid.—The ash of one sample only of Warora coal was tested for phosphorus, and that shewed no trace of any. - From the evidence that has been put forth, I think we may justly say that some of the coals, when the proper por- one of value of tions of the seams are selected to be worked, come under the head of fair ordinary fuel, when judged by the standard of the Réniganj field. The hottest coals ought to be those from Pisgaon, Sdsti and Télwd&sa; and I believe they would give better practical results with locomotives and stationary engines than Warora coal. One characteristic, and an unfavorable one, of most of the coals, is their friability, which renders them less suited for employment in blast furnaces than they otherwise would be; and also makes them less fitted for transport, eo that for sea-going steamers they would have to give way to the harder coals of other localities. With the exception of the SAsti coal, I have observed that they all rapidly disintegrate on exposure, and consequently they ought to be used as fresh as possible from the pit. To obviate the drawback arising from this feature, proposals have been made to convert the coal into brick fuel; and some attempts were recently made by Mr. Ness to: consolidate the coal of the Warora colliery, by maans of gum and rice. Friability of cpal. Brick fuel. The proportions of the substances used were :— Coal ove eo 1123 lbs. Rice ove ove 1 Ib. Gum ose ose # Ib. Water . one eee 4 gallon. Nitrate of soda ; ove ose 4 grains. Potash oe oes w. 4 grains. The fuel so prepared was tried at the Calcutta Mint, but it burned in a dull smouldering manner, and gave a bad welding heat. An assay proved it to contain 10°2 per cent. of water, and 22°6 per ( 107 ) 108 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. cent. of ash—an amount of useless matter that could net fail to retard combustion. Trials elsewhere with it, in the Central Provinces and at the colliery, appear to have given better results, and Mr. Ness reports that samples on being submitted to the blast of a smith’s bellows stood to the last particle, giving out excessive heat and leaving zo clinker. As the bricks operated upon at the Mint and by Mr. Ness were pre- cisely alike, it is apparent that further experiments’ must be made before any final opinion is delivered. The late Mr. Fryar, when in charge of the colliery, endeavoured to utilise the slack in the form of brick fuel, but he was not successful in his attempt, his verdict bearing out the result obtained in the Mint. The question of the suitability of the Warora, Pisgaon and Ghigis coal for railway purposes has been practically demonstrated, and they have been found to answer quite as well as the Narbada coal. Regarding fitness for employment in blast furnaces, Mr. Ness is now engaged in testing the Warora coal, in a small experimental furnace, with Lohéra and other iron ores, and limestone from Kandéra or Karam- gohan. I have not heard what the result of his trials has been; but I am afraid that the amount of dead weight in the coal will seriously affect ite effectiveness. Colliertes.—There are now only two pits open in the Wardha field, and those are at Warora; the experimental ones of Ghigts and of Pisgaon having been abandoned, the latter in August 1875. The history of the sinking of the Warora and Pisgaon shafts is one of recurring mishaps and constant delays, from the unexpected excess of water that had to be contended against. The machinery at first indented for proved inadequate to keep the water under, and it was not until much more powerful engines and larger boilers were set up, and larger pumps put down, that the sinking was successfully carried out. | ( 108 ) | ECONOMIC. 109 These renewals have necessarily entailed heavy expenses, and up to the present time it is said that the expenditure in connection with the opening out of the Warora colliery exceeds six lakhs of rupees. This is a sum little short of the paid-up capital of three of the large coal com- panies in the Réniganj field, and is in excess of that of another. Bar&kar Coal Association ose cee .. & 16,000 Birbhim Coal Company ves ave see 99 72,000 Equitable Coal Company vee ove e- », 90,000 Raniganj Coal Association... ove wos 99 87,600 Bengal Coal Company owe 9» 220,000 In the Warora pit, coal was reached 20th July 1878, Depth to top of seam, 30 fathoms. The expenditure at Pisgaon has been about one lakh and ahalf. Coal reached in the beginning of November 1878. Commenced November 1871. Depth to top of seam, 18 fathoms. In sinking the Ghtigus pit, no extra difficulty was experienced from water. The area around the Warora pit appears to be a perfect filter bed for the rain, which, instead of running off rapidly, sinks down and lodges in the measures. This is due to the direction of the slope of the surface, its slight ioclination, and the absence of pronounced river drainage. A moderate-gized stream is marked on the map east of the coal pit, but none of the rain that falls west of the trunk road flows into it, the road forming a north and south water-shed between the pit and the river. Section XIV.—lInon Orxs. Iron Ores.—In presence of the enormous and splendid accumulations of iron ores beyond the field, and within moderately easy access of Warora, the sources of iron ore within the field are scarcely deserving of attention. I have already pointed out in detail in a contribution to the Records of the survey in 1875, and in a memorandum on Mr. Ness’ report on iron manufacture in Chénda,* the most noted and most acces- ® Gazette of India, Supplement, 1874, page 1861. (. 109 ) 110 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. sible deposits. I need, therefore, only summarise the information con- tained in those papers— 1. The Chénda district surpasses all others in the Wardha valley for richness of iron ore. 2. The most noted localities are Déwalgaon, Gunjwéhi, Lohéra, Pipal- gaon and Ratn4pur. 8. The most accessible to Warora are Ratn4fpir, Pipalgaon and Lohéra; and of these, Pipalgaon. | 4. The varieties of ore are: at Pipalgaon, compact crystalline heama- tite, with some magnetic oxide; at Lohfra, the same; at Ratnfptr, brown iron ore. 5. The great value of these main deposits lies in the almost total free- dom of their ores from phosphorus; this being almost the only deleterious substance that is not eliminated from iron in the Bessemer converter. 6. The largest deposit is that of Lohfra, but there is also an enor- mous amount of iron ore at Pipalgaon. i The following analyses illustrate the composition of the various ores collected and examined :—= . a Lohara. : (1.) Analysed by Mr. David Forbes of London— y Iron metallic one oe »». 69°208 Oxygen in combination oes .. 29°376 Manganese sesquioxide ave oe — °080 Silica one vas oe "823 “a Alumina eve oes . °°432 Lime ose aes oes 054 | Magnesia eve ove .. =—s- trace. y Sulphur owe eee ee 012 . Phosphorus we. vee ~ 005 ~ -——___. is 100-000 (2.) Analysis by Mr. Tween— Metallic iron... ove so 70°00 hh ( 110 ) ° ECONOMIC, 111 Pipalgaon. . (1.) Analysis by Mr. Ness— Protoxide of iron ees bes vee 63°0 Peroxide of iron ove oes ees 31°5 Lime oss eee eee ove zi) Magnesia ove aes o trace. Phosphorus eee oes vee ” Prat estimated. Sulphur ove oes wy, Silica eve wos eee eee 45 Water traces and loss eee eve 6 nn 100'0 Metallic iron 71°06 Ratndpir. (1.) Analysis by Mr. Ness— Metallic iron see ove oes 49'7 Insoluble oe eee ees 26'0 (2.) Analysis by Mr. Tween— (z.) Metalliciron ove o 605 Insoluble eee bes ove 22'8 (6.) Metallic iron eee eee ose 52°0 (3.) Analysis of laterite near Ratn4pir— Metallic iron cee 25-7 Fenak Hill,—The conglomerate bands alluded to in the body of the memoir as containing pebbles of hematite, are very poor sources of iron ore, compared to the magnificent deposits on the left side of the Wardha, and are practically of no value. Analyses of the pebbles showed them to contain from 56°3 to 68+5 per cent. of metallic iron, with mere traces of Phosphorus and no manganese, The manufacture in the Wardha valley of iron on a large scale has, ever since the re-discovery of coal in 1868 by Major Lucie-Smith, been strenuously advocated by the Government of the Central Provinces ; and they have advanced the project so far, that a smal] blast furnace ig at work under the superintendence of Mr. Ness. The ores Proposed to be principally utilised are those of Lohéra or Pipalgaon. There can be no doubt that iron can be made 3 but whether it would be commercially ( 111 172 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. a success to enter upon its manufacture at present has to be proved. To my mind the chief drawback is the quality of the coal; good ore and limestone being abundant. The attempts hitherto to make iron at a paying cost have so constantly failed, that one cannot help entertaining gloomy doubts of the success of the present undertaking at Warora. The data, however, of costs that will be obtained from the trial going on ought to furnish decisive evidence of the feasibility of erecting larger works.* Section X V.—LIMESTONE. Limestone, both in the form of rock and as kankar, occurs in abun- dance in the Wardha valley. The principal sources of rock limestone would be the beds constitut- ing portions of the Vindhyan and Laméta groups. The most constant in composition, however, is the Vindhyan limestone, the Laméta lime- stone varying a great deal. By selecting it, however, and working only those portions that are free from the usual cherty segregations which characterise it, a very pure calcareous rock can be procured. Whenever the choice lies, however, between Vindhyan and Laméta limestone, I should recommend the former. I apppend two analyses to illustrate that portions very alike in com- position may be obtained from both groups :— Vindhyan Laméta limestone, limestone, Carbonate of lime and magnesia __,.. oo. 968 94°5 Oxides of iron and alumina es re 30 Phosphoric acid ose oe w. trace trace Insoluble ... ose ves ww. 20 2°5 100°0 100:0 * Since this was written the experiments which Mr. Ness was about to undertake have been made, and the results of his trials are noted in Section XXI, Chapter IV. ( 112 ) ECONOMIC. 118 The most accessible of the outcrops of Vindhyan limestone from Warora is at Kandéra, six miles to the north ; and the railway from Hinganghat to Warora will pass either over if or near to it. There is another, ex- posure at Nilja, eight miles west of Warora, of much greater extent. Laméta limestone occurs two miles south of Warora at Karamgohan ; also in the Wardha river at Mfrdah, &c. The following analyses illustrate the variation in the composition of the Laméta limestone at Karamgohan (Tween) :— 1 2 3 Carbonate of lime on ww. 291 802 605. Soluble (iron and alumina) ... » %76 #£19°0 11 Insoluble eos eee wv 133 8 48'4 1000 1000 1000 Kankar.—In the presence of rock limestone, kankar will probably receive little consideration as a flux, but it may, with advantage, be used under ‘some circumstances. I append a few analyses, and these demonstrate that it contains a high percentage of carbonate of lime :— : — : Fi Bérénj, Chanda District... eee we | 746) oe 81 22:8 Dongargaon _,, ” see ees eee | FEO | trace 28] ... 21°2 Dahigaon » n ase eee | 760! , 2 ee 21°5 Kondha 0 ss ee wee | S21) ,, 7| .. | 172 Mérdah, ” ” ose ose | 756) » 14] ... | 280 P{sgaon, Win ” one ee | 746) S1i ... | 228 Warora, Chanda _,, eee ae «| 750] .s SB] .. | 21°5 ( 118 ) 114 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIBLD. SEcTION X VI.—ManGanEsE. ~ Manganese. —In connection with the question of iron manufacture, it is of interest that a deposit of manganese ore exists within the limits of the field. The place and mode of ite occurrence has been pointed out. Analysis gives— Loss on heating ove eee ove ~ 86 Oxide of manganese. see woe .. 446 Iron-oxide and alumina... eee eve .. 68 Sand and clay oe ase oes . 4071 100°0 It occurs only in limited quantity. Sxction XVII.—Fiee cuay. Fire clay.—No attempt has been made to test any of the clay accom- panying the measures ; but there can be no doubt that, as in other fields, it will be found to answer for the purpose of making into fire-bricks. Messrs. Burn and Company, at their pottery works in R&niganj, have succeeded in producing very excellent bricks from the fire-clay that is found in the pits of the Bengal Coal Company; and they are now executing an order for the newly-projected Bengal Iron-Works Company. The bricks were tested in the Mint at Calcutta at two different times ; on the first occasion the results were not quite satisfactory, but on the second, when the defects that had.been observed in the bricks were remedied, they stood the tests that they were submitted to perfectly, shewing no sign of cracking or vitrification. The Manager of the Bengal Iron-Works Company, who was present at the trials, agreed in the favorable estimate formed of their quality.* Section X VIII.—BvuiI.pine stones. Building stones.—The Ké&mthis afford sandstones suitable for all sorts of building purposes, and one of the finest displays of their appli- * Records, Geological Survey of India, 1876, vol. VIII, page 18. ( 114) ECONOMIC. 115 cation is the walls of the town of Ch&and4, 54 miles in circuit. They have been extensively employed at the different collieries, and were found to answer extremely well. They present special facility for dressing, being soft when first quarried. At least the sandstones of the lower portion of the series possess this character. They harden on exposure. Excellent building stone may be obtained from the Bhatéra hill. Grindstones of great repute are procured from the same locality. The compact pink-coloured argillaceous sandstones of Is&pir furnish a splended material for illustrating the fine tracery work that Indian skilled artists are capable of carving. At L&lpét near Ch&nda there are some massive monoliths of gods and demons; but the religious tendency of the past expressed itself more specially by hewing out temples in solid rock. Many of these cave temples are within the limits of the field, at Bh4ndak, Winjhfsan, Deolwéra, Ghagius, Chikli and Sst. ( 115 ) 116 HUGHES : WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. CHAPTER V. APPENDICES. Section XIX.—Borine Sections. Beléra—Win District. No. 1. Commenced 9th February 1870. Stopped 9th March 1870, Ft. In. 1. Surface soil with kankar .. see oe oe 5 6 2. Hard red rock eos ose evs ove 9 8. Brown sandstone eve ove eve ~ 25 3 4. Yellow sandstone eee eco eee eve 7 0 6. Light brown sandstone... see eee ~- 10 0 6. Dark brown sandstone .. eve ws «. 14 0 7. Variegated standstone ove ees eee wo 21 6 8. Brown clay eee ove ese eee ove 7 6 9. Brown clay with shale .., oe wee oes 1 0 10. Black carbonaceous shale oe ove eee 4 0 11. Sandy shale .. one eee ose oes 3 0 12. Coal seams ae see one oes w~ 40 6 Coaly shale ... ave ose oes & 0” White sandy shale ove eee ons 4' 0 Black coaly shale ove oo ose $1' 6 13. White sandstone ses coe oe «- ll 6 Tora, ». l6bl 9 R. BATEMAN SMYTH, Brace-headman in charge. Dépidra—Nizam’s Dominions. No. 16. Ft. In 1. Surface soil... ove one oe . 12 0 2. Soft yellow sandstone _... ore ove ~ 26 0 3. Blue, brown, yellow and black shales ... ore «- 12 0 ( 116 ) APPENDICES. 4. Coal, soft sve 5. Yellow and variegated shale 6. Yellow, brown and variegated sandstones 7. Coal aoe wee 8. Shaly coal ove oes 9. Brown, grey and blue sandstones eee ToTaL 3 om wo Saw COO & eo OF §s oo ° E. B. LYNN, In charge, Supdt.’s Office, N. P. W. D. Déptdra—Nizam’s Dominions. No. 17. Ft. In, 1. Surface soil .., one ves 19 0 2. Variegated clays ens ove o 6 0 3. Soft sandstones ees - o. 14 6 4. Dark shale with coal pipes 8 : 1 0 5. Yellow clay... 1 0 6. Yellow sandstone, micaceous ose eee 10 7. Yellow clay shale... - . 130 8. Brown sandstone, micaceous - ve 20 9. Brown sandstone, argillaceous ee vee 3 0 10, Dark shale with coal pipes - eos vee 1 Oo 11. Yellow sandstone eee - - eee 2 0 12. Grey argillaceous shale .,., e : 2 0 13. Soft coal oes ees ee 1 6 14. Hard coal with pyrites _... eee ee oe 1 6 16. Soft coal woe - 1 0 16. Grey and dark shale . ees a ee 4 0 17. Blue sandstone ose ees eee ove 9 0 Toran o 82 6 ee) E. B. LYNN, 117 In charge, Supdt.'s Office, N. P. W.D. (117) 118 HUGHES : WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. Jindra—Win District. No. 1. Commenced 15th March 1870. Stopped $list March 1870. Ft. In, 1. Ironstone eee “nee aes bee w = 2 0 2. Variegated sandstone eee ose oes «. 12 0 3. Brown sandstone ooe oes eae «- 14 0 4. Variegated sandstone eee ose vee 13 6 5. Dark brown sandstone... on ase oes 9 6 6. Yellow sandstone eee one aes « L7 0 7. Black carbonaceous shale .., oes ose aes 5 0 8. Coai seam—(not all cut through) eee ove » 687 8 TorTaL «. 130 8 M. HEPPEL, Brace-headman in charge. Mdjri—Chanda District. No. 2. Commenced 22nd March 1870, Finished 9th April 1870, Ft. In 1. Surface soil ... oes ves tes e 4 0 2. Brown clay .. oes oes one wo 20 8. Coarse brownish yellow sandstone __... one o 6 O 4. Fine-grained yellowish white sandstone, micaceous... wv 10 5. Fine-grained variegated sandstone, micaceous ave - 13 0 6. Yellow sandstone eee ove oes wo 4& O 7. Coarse yellowish red sandstone ose ose . 8 0 8. Hard ferruginous sandstone oe ws 8 0 9. The same, but finer in texture ees bee . 1 0 10. Deep red ferruginous sandstone vee ase ose 1 8 11. Light red ferruginous sandstone ee eee oes 8 0 12. Light yellowish red sandstone eos ane aes 1 0 13. Light-colored sandstone, conglomeratic ees ves 4 0 14. Fine-grained yellow sandstone eee oes vw 20 16. Grey clay _... oes eee oes 1 0 16. Yellow clay .. ove eee ees ves 2 0 17, Light-colored shale oes oes eee . 20 ( 118 ) APPENDICES. Ft. In, 18. Dark shale, a little coaly ... ove 2 0 19. Coal ves ove 50 8 20. Shale eee 1 1 TorTaL 127 0 R. BATEMAN SMYTH, Brace-headman in charge. Médtra—Nizam's Dominions. No. 15. Ft. In. Yellow and variegated sandstone tee ove - 30 6 Shaly sandstone ove aoe on 10 O Yellow quartzose sandstone eee ove «. 12 0 Yellow and brown sandstones ces 4 6 Coal (soft) oe ose - 2 0 Yellow shale, micaceous oes ove 2 0 Grey and brown sandstones, micaceous ove 9 0 Blue shale . oe 4 0 Blue and grey sandstones .. ae . 10 6 ToTaL ~» 121 6 E. B. LYNN, In charge, Supdt.’s Office, N. P. W. D. Nilyja—Win District. No. 2. Commenced 13th February 1870. Stopped 12th March ” Ft. In, 1. Surface soil eee cee ove evs 1 Oo 2. Variegated sandstone eee eee eee eee 8 6 8. Light brown sandstone ove eve eos eee 5 6 A. Red MOOrUM aee ee eee oe 8 2 6. White clay, with kunkur (kankar) os oe 2 6 6. Kunkur (kankar) ons oes eae 1 7 7. Brown sandstone eee oe - 2 0 8. Sand oe ove eee 1 9 9. Light-colored sandstone, micaceous sw tee « 141 120 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. Ft. In 10. Light-colored sandstone... vee ove wes 1 0 11. Variegated sandstone wes woe ae ove 4 2 12. Light yellow sandstone... vee ase ~- 2 1 13. Variegated sandstone see ee wwe ll 0 14. Brown sandstone ove vee 3 4 15. Variegated sandstone . wee wee . 2 8 16. Red sandstone... we ose ave ave 2 6 17. Black carbonaceous shale... woe oes ee 1 0 18. Coal seam one nee ore ves .- 81 8 Coal eee bes we ove 87' 4 Sandy shale wes eos ove 4' 4 Coal mixed with shale ... ee ose 2 9 Shale eee vee ove ove 4 1’ Coal ove oe ose ove 82 9 19. White sandstone oes ons ove ow «= 2 6 ToraL »- 170 1 MARK FRYAR, Mining Engineer, Geological Survey. Pdpir—Wén District. No. 1. Commenced 7th November 1870. Finished 168th » »» Water struck at 37 feet from surface. Ft In. 1. Yellow, red and white sandstones ees a . 29 2 2. Quartzose ferruginous sandstone eee oes oes 1 6 8. Red, pink, white and variegated sandstones aes .. 85 0 4. Light-colored shale one oes one eee 2 0 5. Coal seam. ave see eee ees . 86 0 Carbonaceous ore eee oes 7’ 0 Coal ove ve ove ase 2? 0 Carbonaceous shale vee ove eee l' Coal vee ae eee tee 26' 0” 6. White sandstone ee oe ves ses 6 4 Toran ». 110 0 R. BATEMAN SMYTH, In charge of Boring Operations, Berar. ( 120 ) APPENDICES. 121 Parsbra—Win District. No. 1. Commenced 27th February 1875. Finished Sth April os Ft. In. 1. Surface soil st. ove - aes - 8 0 2. Sandy clay... oe eee coe ove 7 0 8. Red, white, and yellow sandstones ooo ove wo of 0 4. Purple clay... ose eee oss . 1 90 5. Red, white, and yellow sandstones ore ves we 22 9 6. Grey and yellow clay oe - ee wo 2 0 7. Yellow, pink, and white sandstones __.., ose . 18 0 8. Purple, yellow, blue, and red clays oes 25 0 9. White sandstone} oes 4 0 10. Red clay ee oes . oes 4 0 11. White sandstone ee ae 3 0 12. Red clay eee ase vee vee wv 4 0 13. White, yellow, and pink sandstones __.. eee 16 0 14, Red, grey, brown, and variegated clays ... bes . ll 8 TorTaL .. 162 8 R. BATEMAN SMYTH, Offy. Supdt., Pisgaon Coal Mines. Parsbra— Win District. No. 8. Commenced 2nd May 1875. Finished lst June Ft. 1, Surface soil... oes eee oes 6 2. Yellow clay... nae 2 8. Yellow, pink, and red sandstones : 22 4. Red and brown clays ove vee ase « 16 6. Yellow sandstone ves ose aes 4 . Vitreous quartzose sandstone 0 . Yellow sandstone ose 40 . Vitreous quartzose sandstone 0 . Red, yellow, and pink sandstones 10. Vitreous quartzose sandstone oes . O 11. Yellow sandstone ove aes ees ots 5 12. Vitreous quartzose sandstone 0 OOwTA wonoenovooooonds 122 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. Ft. In. 18. Yellow sandstone cee ees eos we 14 0 14. Coal seam-— eee evo one eon oue 82 0 Coaly shale eee ose vee l' 0 Coal eee eee eee eee $1! QO” 15. Whita sandstone eee e606 eee eee 2 0 TorTaL oo. 228 2 R. BATEMAN SMYTH, Offy Supdt., Pisgaon Coal Mines. Plsgaon— Win District. No. 1. Commenced 4th May 1870. Stopped Mth 9 Water struck 6 feet from surface, Ft. In, 1. White sandstone eee eee eee eve 20 2. Red sandstone... eve eee oes ees 1 0 8. White sandstone ose oe ove - 27 0 4. Yellow sandstone — eee ove ove ove 8 O 5. Red sandstone... eee ese eee eee 4 0 6. Yellowish white sandstone ... ees ose » 11 0 7. White sandstone eco os eee vee 4 0 8. Yellow sandstone ees eee we «. 17 O 9. Carbonaceous shale vee eee eee eee 2 0 10. Black shale... eos ese ose oor 1 0 11. Coal seam eee vee eee eos . 22 QO Coal oe see eee we 17' 0 Black shale eve - eee oes 2 0 Coal toe oe vee see 8’ 0 12. Light-colored shale eee eos eve ove 1 0 18. Black shale... oes eee ove vee 10 14. White sandstone geo eee eee vee 14 O TotaL »- 120 0 R. BATEMAN SMYTH, ; ' In charge of Boring Operations, Berar. ( 122 ) APPENDICES. Plsgaon— Win District. No, 4. Shaft commenced and stopped in March 1871. Water struck 13 fect from surface, Ft, In, 1. Surface soil eon eee Ty) oe eee 12 0 2. White sandstone eee eo0 eee 00 10 0 8. Yellow sandstone eee ce see tee 4 0 4. White sandstone ves vee ove eee 8 9 5. White sandstone, with pebbles oe one . $1 9 6. Light yellow sandstone... * ons ‘gee . 8 6 7. Yellow sandstone vee oes eee eee 6 0 8. Dark yellow sandstone eee YT) eee eee 1 6 9. Yellow sandstone ees oes eee « 11 0 10. Grey clay eco ase eee ve . O 6 11. White sandstone eos eee eve eee 0 6 12. Redish brown clay tee oes eee eee 1 6 13. Yellow sandstone oes ove eee oes 10 14, Black sandy clay eee eee eee ees 1 0 15. Yellow sandstone eee ooo tee oe 12 0 16, Yellow and brown sandstone eee eee eee 1 0 17. Light pinkish yellow sandstone oes eee . 1090 18. Yellow sandstone ove oes ove oes 2 0 19. Pinkish yellow sandstone ..,. eee “eee ene 1 0 20. Dark-yellow sandstone oe ove eee « 8 O 21. Dark brown clay oe oe oe wo $1 0 22. Black shale... oe oe eee oe 38 0 Coal (not gone through) ... one eee ow 44 0 TorTaL - 91 0 THOMAS W. BOURNE, Supdt., Pisgaon Colliery. Ptegaon— Win District. No. 7. Commenced Mth October 1871. Finished 27th , 9 Water struck 15 feet from surface. Ft. In. 1. Surface soil ... ove oes ee oe 2 0 2. Kankar ose eee eos ove eos 2 0 8. Yellow sandstone eee ove on 87 0 123 124 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY OOAL-FIELD. - Fe. In, 4. Yellowclay ..._. ore ove owe eee 2 0 5. Yellow and red sandsto oes oes « 62 O 6. Coal seam eee TY) aoe eee ooo 24 0 Black carbonaceous shale ~~ 3 OF Coal ee ove ~ 21' TorvaL eee «3129 0 THOMAS W. BOURNE, Supdt., Pisgaon Colliery. Plsgaon—Win District. No. 8. Commenced 25th October 1878. Finished 22nd November 1878. Water struck 16 feet from surface. Ft. In. 1. Black soil vee woe we eee eee 2 0 2. Small gravel ... - woe ove one . 14 0 $. White earth and yellow sandstone ... es o 1 90 4. Soft yellow sandstone ove ove ove ove 1 0 6. Soft red sandstone coe eee eee eve 8 0 6. Soft yellow sandstone... * cos eee w 22 0 7. Yellow sandstone - woe eee ove oes 7 0 8. Red sandstone... ees vos ove » 30 0 9. Yellow sandstone oes soe oes oes 5 0 10. Red sandstone... vee oe coe: ove 1 0 11. Yellow sandstone ees eee eee ose 5 0 12. Reddish yellow sandstone ... oes oe wee 1 0 18. Grey clay, micaceous, ove ove ese « 2 0 14. Blue clay ewe oe exe cee ove 6 0 15. Yellow sandy clay aes cee eae eee 2 0 16. Yellowsandstone — vee eos eee . 20 0 17. Black shale... eee ove eee vee 1 O 18. White sandstone eee eco coe oes 6 0 19. Yellow sandstone “oe ee ooo . 4&4 0 20, Yellow and red sandstone ... eee vee ees 10 21. Blue clay one ove oe eee « 2 0 22. Brown clay .. oes ove eos ow 1 0 23. Blue clay ove ots ose ees ~ 10 9 ( 124 ) APPENDICES. 24. White sandstone eos ves ose 25. Yellow sandstone ove oes oes 26. Soft yellow sandstone - ... one one 27. White sandstone ove vee ove 28. Yellow sandstone ves ove ves 29. White sandstone ves eee oes 30. Sandstone __4.. vee vee ees 81. White sandstone one ees ove 82. Carbonaceous shale ose ove oes 83. White sandstone oo bee ove 34. Sandstone _... one eee oes 35. White sandstone eee cee one Allow for wrong measure ose eee 86. White sandstone one ose ees 37. Argillaceous sandstone... ase eee 88. Coal eee ece YY) YY’ ToTaL Hole stopped after boring 22 feet into the coal. THOMAS W. BOURNE, Supdt., Pisgaon Coal Mines. Plsgaon—Wan District. No. 9. Commenced 24th November 1873, Finished § 5th January 1874. Water struck 17 feet from the surface. 1. Surface soil... eee oes ove 2. Yellow sandstone eee eee eae 8. Red sandstone oes ee : 4. Yellow sandstone eee eee oes 5. Red sandstone ve eee oe 6. Reddish yellow sandstone ... one ee 7. Yellow sandstone es oes oo 8. Red sandstone ee ove oes 9. Yellow sandstone ee vee eee 10. Reddish yellow sandstone ... eee... eee 11. Red sandstone eee one ove 12. Yellow sandstone ee ° eee 13. Red sandstone ae as ee or VPuewnoboamaonaesSwedonse COODCOC OC COO OOCO OO OF 125 S =) STC OCC OOOO COO OF 126 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. Mt. in, 14. Yellow sandstone oe oes ees vee 2 0 15. Red sandstone... ees ene oes eos 2 0 16. Red clay vee one ove ee wo 7 0 17. Red sandstone... pee eee eee Pry 10 0O 18. Yellow sandstone oes eee eee oes 9 0 19. Red sandstone... eee eee eee ove 4 0 20. Yellow sandstone one eee ees eee 4 0 21. Red sandstone... ves ees ees ose 7 0 22. Yellow sandstone eee see ove ore 7 0 23. Red sandstone... vee oes oes oes 3 0 24. Yellow sandstone - ees eos «. 34 O 25. Black carbonaceous earth ose eee eee 2 0 26. Clay eas ee ove eee sas 9 0 27. White sandstone ove oes ees «» 22 0 28. Blue clay sos tee eee ees ose 4 0 29. White sandstone vee eee eee we «=«.:« 83 30. Blue clay ses ves oe eee one 8 0 $1. White sandstone eco ees oes wo 4 0 $2. Clay aes cee eee oes oss 2 0 83. Grey clay, micaceous ove ove eos ave 8 0 34. White sandstone bes eee ave . 20 0 | S J s i) Go J) —) This hole was stopped at 333 feet from surface on account of an accident to hole. THOMAS W. BOURNE, Supdt., Plsgaon Coal Mines. Prsgaon—Wen District. No. 10. Commenced 8th February 1874. Finished 18th March 1874 Water struck 18 feet from surface, Ft. In. 1. Yellow sandstone eee ooo oes . 14 0 2. Red argillaceous sandstone eee ose ese 7 0 8. Light red sandstone oe eee eee . 80 0 4. White clay eee eee ese eee see 1 O 5. Red clay ves aoe ave bee wv 2 O 6. Yellow sandstone eee wes . 2 0 ( 126 ) 7. Red clay 8. Grey sandy clay 9. Yellow sandstone 10. Light red sandstone eee Cee ese O80 11. Yellow sandstone 12. Variegated clay 18, Red clay 14. Red sandstone... 15. Yellow sandstone 16. Red sandstone .« 17. Yellow sandstone 18. Red argillaceous sandstone ee ees a 19. Brown sandstone 20. Yellow clay 21. Variegated clay 22. Red argillaceous sandstone eee ee eos 23. Variegated clay 24. Yellow sandstone . Red clay . Yellow sandstone ° Yellow and red. sandstone eee ooo eee TT) . Yellow sandstone . Black carbonaceous earth oes oes eee . Bluish grey clay . White sandstone’ . Bluish grey clay White sandstone 85. Blue clay (stiff, good) a a eee _ 25 26 27 28 29. White sandstone 80. $1 82. 83. 84. 86. White sandstone $7. Limestone or kankar (very hard) oes eee ees 1. Surface soil ° oO mh mh fe : : : : pod bo @ co ZMODCOCOSCOSCOSCODOSCOSDSCOOOCOOOC OOO OOOO OOF Gee ee @ooe eee ] = bm mh 8 eh Oo GO = —_ rr -] Oo nd = bP bh A = Bb OO DH DW 6 ToTaL ». 261 THOMAS W. BOURNE, Supdt., Pisgaon Coal Mines. Plagaon— Win District, No. 11. =) Commenced 17th March 1874, Finished 2th , 4 Water struck 24 feet from surface, Ft. In. eee eee 9ee 12 0 APPENDICRS. 129 Ft. In. 3. Yellow sandy clay wee ane woe . 20 0 4. Sand and clay soil owe ow aes - 20 6 5. Soft sandstone ww ese vee woe 5 6 6. Yellow clay with iron ore .., ate ae 1 0 7. Soft and coarse sandstone ... aes ase 4 6 8. Stiff, yellow and grey clays ove ove 26 0 9. Coarse sand... ves ove 0 6 10. Black shaly mad ee ee es ase 0 6 1l. Yellow clay... - oes ove ove 6 6 12. Coarse and fine sandstones ove ove 4 0 13. Yellow and red clays ove ose ove 13 0 14. Chocolate-colored clay with veins of coal ° 0 6 15. Tough yellow clay ow we 3 0 16. Tough reddish brown clay with coal pipes 2 0 17. Tough bituminous shale with mica... ee - 6 0 18. Slate clay vee wee es ove 6 6 19. Bluish shale with coal pipes ees one eee 6 0 20. Slate clay wee ww oe ae ove 7 6 21. Hard blue sandstone ove ove ae . 22 0 22. Shale eos ove oes ves ves 1 0 23. Very stiff clay, with veins of iron tee vee oe 4 0 24. Argillaceous blue sandstone o- eve 36 =«0 25. Dark blue shale ove es wee 2 0 26. Argillaceous blue sandstone, with coal p pipes ose - 18 0 27. Black shale (soft coal) .. ee wee oes 1 0 28. Dark shale .. woe we oe we 5 0 29. Hard fine grey sandstone ... ose eve 11 0 30. Dark shale... ase ove ee wo 21 O 31. Hard fine grey sandstone .. ove nee . 14 0 ToTaL .. 275 O E. B. LYNN, In charge Supdt.'s Office, N. P. W. D. Rdjir— Win District. No. 1. Commenced 9th April 1870. Stopped lst May 1870, Ft. In 1. Yellow sandstone eee oes see . 10 0 2. Reddish sandstone owe ooo ces ees 7 0 130 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. Ft. In. 8. Light yellow sandstone oe ves ~ 11 0 4. White sandstone see sos ove eee 5 0 6. Sand oes vee oes ose ove 1 0 6. Coarse sandstone (conglomeratic) oes eee eee 6 0 7. Reddish sandstone vee eee eos -- 6 0 8. White sandstone eee eee eos w 4 0 9. Reddish sandstone a ase as . 60 10. Variegated sandstone ___... eee ose ove 6 0 ll. Yellow sandstone ose eae one » 10 0 12. White sandstone (micaceous) vee ees ooo 2 0 13. Yellow sandstone aoe eve exe ove 7 0 14. Reddish sandstone with iron (hard) ... ose ove 2 0 15. White sandstone (micaceous) ese oes eee 1 0 16. White clay ~ vs a . 10 17. Fine yellow sandstone _,.. oe eee ow 2 0 18. Very coarse yellow sandstone (conglomeratic) vee one 2 0 19. Fine yellow sandstone (very hard)... one wo O 4 20. Yellow sandstone aoe eos eee 16 0 21. Red sandstone oes aes ove _ 1 0 22. Yellow sandstone oes evs vee . 16 0 23. Coaly shale ... eos oe oes o 1 O 24. Coal (not through) ose oes oes .. 165 0 ToTaL .. 184 4 Only 15 feet coal bored through. © R. BATEMAN SMYTH, In charge of Boring Operations, Berar. Rajir— Win District. No. 3. Commenced 10th May 1875. Finished 28rd May 1875. Ft. In. 1, Surface soil ove one oes 7 .0 2. Vitreous quartzose sandstone oes ene 0 6 8. Yellow sandstone ees vee ees . 7 0 4, Red clay ees aes oes 6 0 5. White, yellow, red and variegated sandstones avs .. 483 0 6. White clay... oes aoe eve 2 0 7. Yellow and white sandstones oe eee .. 17 0 8. Vitreous quartzose sandstone aoe oes » O 8 ( 180 ) APPENDICES. 131 | Ft. In. 9. Yellow sandstone oes wee eee wo. «26 O 10. Brown clay eee eee eee eae 8 0 ll. Black carbonaceous shale ees ase tes 4 0 12. Coal ec0 Gee eee eee eee 22 0 13. White sandstone eee oes eee eon 4 0 ToTaL .. 14 9 R. BATEMAN SMYTH, Off9. Supdt., Pisgaon Coal Mines. Rdjir—Wein District. No. 4. Commenced 24th May 1875, Finished #th June 1875, KX. In. 1. Surface soil ose oes tee eee 2 0 2. Yellow sandstone tee eos vee - 8 0 8. Vitreous quartzose sandstone eee ase 0 4 4. Yellow and pink sandstones ee ove 43 0 6. Variegated clay ves eee 6 0 6. White, yellow and pink sandstones aes ove 24 0 7. Vitreous quartzose sandstone » OO 4 8. Yellow, pink and white sandstones ; 117 O 9. Black carbonaceous shale ees ves ves 1 2 10. Coal seam ees vee ves » 2 6 Coaly shale ees ove os 1' 0 Coal eee ose vee 25' 6” 11. White sandstone eee wee eee wee 1Q ToTaL .. 229 4 R. BATEMAN SMYTH, Offy. Supdt., Pisgaon Coal Mines. Télwded-—Chdnda District. No. 2. Commenced 14th December 1869. Stopped 17th January 1870. Ft. 1. Surface soil (clay) aes vee ae ow. 29 2. Variegated sandstone aes ove one . dt 182 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. Ft. In. 3. Light brown sandstone 3 3 4. Brown sandstone eee eee _ 1 7 5. Variegated sandstone ove one we 6 11. 6. Sand ose ose 7 6 7. Light brown sandstone... 7 6 8. Variegated sandstone eee oe wee 5 3 9. Brown clay... wes eee a ooo 3 8 10. Clay mixed with shale .. 0 11 11. Black shale ... ees oes 1 11 12. Coal seam... ase wee ose ~~ 63 7 Coal eee oss oes oe 29' 0” Shale on l' & Coal ove . . 4! 5” Shale oe eee 12’ 9 Coal we ll’ 2? . Shale 4’ 9 13. Shale mixed with sandstone ose 6 7 14, White sandstone mixed with dark Coaly shale 7 3 6 Tora, w 8 MARK FRYAR, Mining Engineer, Geological Survey. Warora—Chdnda District. (Near the pit 13° N. E.)—No. B1. Commenced 15th May 1878. Finished 8rd July 1878. 1. Dark clay... 2. Brown clay ... 3. Variegated clay - oe 4. Light brown sandstone, soft os 5. Brown sandstone oes ves woe 6. Red sandstone ees wee ove 7. Brown sandstone eee 8. Fine brown sandstone mixed with mica eos 9. Brown sandstone oes oe oes 10. Iron stone __.. ses vee oe 11. Brown sandstone . 12. Yellow sandstone oe ( 182 ) aSanwnahwuowon ana SCooooeoooooce & APPENDICES. 133 Ft. In. 13. Shale bes ves ve - es 2 0 14. Light brown clay ave ooo - 0 8 15. Brown clay... eee ave es 1 0 16. Soft brown sandstone eee eee - 3 0 17. Yellow sandstone (partly ferraginous) — ... — » 10 0 18. Soft brown sandstone vee ~ 80 19. Variegated sandstone . ~ 20 Q 20. Shale | . ~ O06 21. Coal seam ae 48 6 Coal ove ove eee eos 4’ 0" Shale oe ees 2’ Oo” Coal with shale vee ves 3’ 6 Shale mixed with coal and metal... 2! 0” Coal | ees es 15' 6 Shale mixed with white sandstone oe 4! 6” White sandstone vee . ons 2’ 6 Coal with shale eee . 0’ 6” -Coal we 11' of Coal mixed with shale 3’ 0” 22. White sandstone . . 11 2 ToTaL .. 232 4 Information furnished by June 1876. W. NESS, Supdt., Warora Colliery Division. Warora—Chdnda District. (600 feet west of the shaft).—No. G1. Commenced ist September 1878, Finished 26th September 1878. Ft. In. 1. Dark soil oe nee 6 0 2. Dark soil, mixed with gravel - 8 0 8. Brown clay... oes . eee ‘ 8 0 4. Soft brown sandstone ees 29 5. Brown sandstone 22 6 6. Yellow sandstone . 59 6 7. Variegated clay oes 2 0 8. Fine brown sandstone eee vee . 17 0 134 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. by ¢r rd J 9. Fine yellow sandstone __... ons oes vw 72 0 10. Light red sandstone ene ave eee eee 9 0 ll. Dark clay coe: eee vee eee oes 5 0 12. Pipe clay oss ose aes oes nee 1 0 13. Buff clay ves ove aoe eee ees 4 0 14. Shaley clay... vee ae ave oes 3 3 15. Shale oes nee eae eee eee 2 0 16. Coal seam TY) ooo ee oa eee 89 3 Coal, mixed withiron ... vee oe 0’ 6 Coal eee vee tee eae 17' 3 Dark clay, mixed with sandstone... oes 8' 0” Light sandstone, mixed with mica ... to 4 0 Coal ee one one nee 14 6” 17. Light white sandstone __... aes vee .. 43 6 18. Coal wee aes ave one oes 1 0 19. Coal, mixed with shale... soe ace . 1 0 20. Darkclay __... ave ve ave wo 2 0 21. Light white sandstone __... nee one wo 21 2 22. Ironstone vee aoe eee aes w O1 23. Light white sandstone... eee ee oo 23 6 Toman ... 283 6 Information furnished by June 1876. W. NESS, Supdt., Warora Colliery Division. Warora—Chdnda District, (N.-E. 500 feet from the pit).—No. H1. Commenced 37th September 1878. Finished 325th October 1873. Ft. In. 1. Dark soil ves ees ve 6 0 2. Variegated clay, with gravel es 2 0 8. Brown clay... oes aes vee 7 0 4. Variegated clay ees ves aes . 9 0 6. Brown sandstone ees ees bes 22 0 6. Variegated sandstone aes ses eee ee 4 0 7. Brown sandstone aes see ves ». 70 0 ( 184 ) APPENDICES. 8. Red sandstone... vee es 9. Brown, yellow and variegated sandstones 10. Shale, with coal ane woe 11. Dark sandstone, mixed with mica ose 12. Light white sandstone, mixed with mica 13. Coal seams. ove ees Shale ves oes vee Coal one eee eve Black clay oe Coal eee eee oes Black clay ote one Coal shale ... oes vee Coal oes oes oes Shale and coal ees vee Coal nes ees oes Dark sandstone, shaly ... ons Coal ees ose eee Coal, with shale ove aes Coal vee ees oes 14. Shale, with white sandstone ves 15. White sandstone | oes ees Information furnished by June 1876. Ft. In, ee os 4 0 cee . 60 6 ° P 2 0 ee 1 0 eee « 29 8 eee - 64 0 : 0 9 - 2’ 0 eee 1’ 0 ove 2' . 12’ 6” ves l' & ‘ 10° 0” e 3' 0 ee 2’ 0’ ° ose l' & ‘ 2' @& - 4 6” ee 10’ 9” ve oe 0 9 ee ee 8 6 W. NESS, Supdt., Warora Collsery Division. Warora—Chanda District. No. Ml, Commenced S8ist Octeber Finished 8rd December 1878. 1. Surface soil... bee 2. Brown and variegated sandstones ase 3. Variegated clay vee aoe 4. Brown and variegated sandstones _... 5. Shale ove ove 6. Shale, with clay eee eee 1878. Ft. In. ee «- 16 8 : » 838 4 oes bes 4 0 ees . 82 0 ee oe 2 0 oes oes 1 Oo 135 136 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. Ft. In 7. Dark clay vee ves bos - 0 4 8. Pipeclay _... aes aes eee . 8 O 9. Dark clay, with carbon... ose ous o 6 0 10. Coal seam ose oes ave aes . 988 10 Shaly coal ... aoe vee oes l' 6 Coal oes oe 10° 0” Shale ves aes ‘ - l' Oo Coal ves ees ves ‘ 10’ 0” Shale, with white sandstone and mica bee l' oF Coal oes * use oes bes 9 0 Coal, with iron ove eee eee 010° Coal ees aes eee oes 5' Of 11. Light white sandstone... ees - 2 6 12. White sandstone, with mica eee : - 40 4 13. Shale ves owe aes : 4 0 14, Darkclay ... vee ee wee vw 2 0 15. White sandstone oes ove 23 0 ToTaL ... 269 O Information furnished by June 18756. W. NESS, Supdt., Warora Colliery Division. Warora—Chdnda District. No. 81. Commenced 16th December 1873. Stopped 24th December 1873. Ft. In. 1. Surface soil... eee os a ~- 18 8 2. Brown and variegated sandstones wes ose .. 87 O 8. Light dark clay vee eos aes ove 8 0 4. Shale wes ose ate oes . 38 O 5. Coal seam sa... wee see vee .. 85 0 Coal oes eee acs aes 6 0’ Shaly coal ove ase ee 1' 0’ Coal ses vee ase ose 6’ 0’ ( 136 ) APPENDICES. 137 Ft. In. Coaly shale... oe ove ee O' 4” White, sandstone, with mica oes ove 3’ 0” Coal eee eee ene bee 15’ QO” 6. White sandstone ess ose ace ees 1 0 ToraL eo. 162 8 Information furnished by June 1875. W. NESS, Supdt., Warora Colliery Division. Warora— Wen District. No, 2. Commenced 2nd February 1872. Finished 12th February 1873. Water struck 32 feet from surface. Surface soil ove ove vee es one 5 0 White sandstone ... ose ove ere ese 1 0 Yellow clay, with kunkur eve ove ass ees 7 0 White, yellow, pink, and variegated sandstones eee .. 116 O Sand ... oe ese eee oes ave 3 0 Clay vee ene ese ose ans 3 0 Light shale one ove aes ove ves 1 0 Black carbonaceous shale one ves ees bas 1 0 Coal oe. ee oe eos . 16 0 Shaly sandstone... vee a ves w 6 O Black carbonaceous shale ees eee ove oe 20 Shaly sandstone... one ove vee ves 4 0 TorTaL .. 162 0 R. BATEMAN SMYTH, In charge of Boring Operations, Berar. ( 1387 ) 138 i pad tpt NES © w bad font Cu HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. Win—Win District. Commenced 28th October 1871. 14th December 1871. Finished ° Surface s0i1 one eee . Yellow and red sandstone ... Sand eee ove Red and yellow sandstones Variegated sandy clay Yellow sandstone eos White clay... eee Red and yellow sandstones . Vitreous quartzose sandstone . Red and yellow sandstones . Light grey clay ove - Yellow and red sandstones - Black carbonaceous shale ... . Brown and variegated clays . Black carbonaceous shale ... . Red and green clays bee . Grey shale. on . White sandstone. Highly micaceous ... . Grey shale aes . Yellow, red and white sandstones ove . Vitreous quartzoge sandstone “ . Yellow, red and white sandstones vee No. 1. 22 23. Vitreous quartzose sandstone - 24. Red, variegated, yellow and white sandstones 25. Coalseam eve eee Coaly shale... eee os Coal bee coe ee Coaly shale... see os Brown clay... ess Barytes ... ove ove Coal eee on on White sandstone eee - Coal aes ove ove 26. White sandstone ove oe ( 188 ) Ft. In 1 O 11 0 1 O 6 0 1 0 Z 0 3 0 50 0 01 83 11 1 O 6 0 1 O 38 0 8 0 15 O 2 0 1 0 1 0 42 0 0 4 43 10 0 6 4 0 37 O 15 0 APPENDICES, 139 Ft. In. 27. Yellow sandy clay ote ose ese oe: 1 0 28. White sandstone, micaceous eve eos .. 12 0 ToTaL - 310 4 R. BATEMAN SMYTH, In charge of Boring Operations, Berar. Lagra— Win District. Commenced 22nd November 1870. Stopped 80th November 1870. Water struck 10 feet from surface. Ft. In 1. Yellow, red and white sandstones eee eee - 49 6§ 2. Vitreous quartzose sandstone bes eve eve 0 3 3. Carbonaceous shale— 4. Coal (not through) see ooo ooo 7’ 0 _— 7 0 ToTaL . 687 8 R, BATEMAN SMYTH, Ln charge of Boring Operations, Berar. ( 189 ) 140 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. Section XX.—AUTHORS’ PAPERS REFERRED TO 1851. Egerton, Sir, P. de M. G.—Description of the Specimens of the Fossil Fish from the Deccan, India.—Quarterly Journal, Geological Society, London, Vol. VII, page 273. 1852. Bell, Dr. T. L.—On the Geology of the Neighbourhood of Kotah, Deccan. Quarterly Journal, Geological Society, London, Vol. VIII, page 230. 1853. Bell, Dr. T. L—Faurther Account of the Boring at Kotah, Deccan, and a Notice of an Ichthyolitefrom that Place.—Quarterly Journal, Geological Society, London, Vol. IX, page 351. 1854. Egerton, Sir, P. de M. G.—Palichthyologic Notes, No. 7, Deccan Fish, with 99 a Plate.—Quarterly Journal, Geological Society, London, Vol. X, page 371. Hislop, 8., and Hunter., The Revd. Messrs.—On the Geology of the Neigh- bourhood of Nagpér, Central India (Abstract).—Quarterly Journal, Geo. logical Society, London, Vol. X, page 470. 1854. Owen, Prof.—Description of the Cranium of a Labyrinthodont Reptile (Brachyops laticeps) from Ménglf, Central India.—Quarterly Journal, Geo- logical Society, London, Vol. X, page 473. 1855. Hislop, S. and R. Hunter, Revd., Messrs.—On the Geology and Fossils of the Neighbourhood of Nagpar, Central India. Quarterly Journal, Geologi- cal Society, London, Vol. XI, page 345. 1859. Oldham, T., LL.D., F.R.S.—On some fossil fish-teeth of the genus Ceratodus, from Maledi, south of Nagpir.—Memoirs, Geological Sur- vey of India, Yol. I, page 295. 1860. Hislop, The Revd. S.—On the Tertiary Deposits associated with Trap Rock in the East Indies; with Descriptions of the Fossil Shells by the Revd. 8, Hislop, and of the Fossil Insects by Andrew Murray, Esq., and a note on the Fossil Cypridey by 7. Rupert Jones, Esq., F.G.S.—Quarterly Journal, Geological Society, London, Vol. XVI, page 154. 1861. Bunbury, Sir C. #., Bart.—Notes on a Collection of Fossil Plants from 9 Nagpér, Central India.— Quarterly Journal, Geological Society, London, Vol. XVII, page 325. Hislop, The Revd. 8.—On the Age of the Fossiliferous, Thin-Bedded Sand- stone and Coal of the Province of Nagpir, India.— Quarterly Journal Geological Society, London, Vol. XVII, page 346. 1863. Jones, Prof. T. R.—On Fossil Estherie and their Distribution.—Quarterly Journal, Geological Society, London, Vol XIX, page 140. 1864. Hislop, The Revd. S.—On the Further Discovery of Fossil Teeth and Bones of Reptiles in Central India.—Quarterly Journal, Geological Society, Lon- don Vol. XX, pages 117 and 280. ( 140 ) APPENDICES. 141 1868. Blanford, W. T., F.G.S.—On the Coal Seams of the Neighbourhood of Chaénd4.—Records, Geological Survey of India, Vol. I, page 23. 1869. Oldham, T., LL.D., F.R.S.—The Coal Field near Chanda, Central Provin- ces.—Records, Geological Survey of India, Vol. II, page 94. 1870. Oldham, T., F.R.S.—The Wardha River Coal Fields, Berar and Central Provinces.— Records, Geological Survey of India, Vol. ITI, page 465. 1871. Oldham, T., F.R.S.—Sketch of the Geology of the Central Provinces. Records, Geological Survey of India, Vol. IV, page 69. 1876. Fedden, F., ¥.G.S.—On the Evidence of ‘Ground Ice’ in Tropical India, during the Talchir Period.—Records, Geological Survey of India, Vol. VIII, page 16. ' Secrion XXI.—Exprerimentat Iron Manuracrore at Warora. The opening experimental trial by Mr. Ness, to determine the adapt- ability of the coal and iron ore-of the Chanda district to the manufacture of iron on a commer- cial scale of some magnitude, was made “ from the 26th to the 28th August 1875. On the latter date, from the giv- ing way of one of the tuyeres, and allowing water to get into the hearth, it got so cold that the furnace had to be let out, at which time about 2 cwt. of iron had been reduced, and was afterwards taken out of the hearth in one solid piece. The second trial with this furnace was again commenced on the 2lst and was closed on the 25th September 1875.” The experiments were conducted in the same manner in both cases, and were as follows* :— First attempt to make cast iron. The furnace, after being thoroughly dried, was filled for about three- fourths of its capacity with rough, dry timber, and set fire to. On the top of this, a few feet of ehar- coal were placed, and then regular charges of iron ore and coal, &c., were made, consisting of 1 cwt. coal to 4 ewt. of Lébéra iron ore, + cwt. Ratn4piir iron ore, 20Ibs limestone, and an occasional blank charge of Proportions of charge. ®* Public Works Department Proceedings for May 1876. ( 14. ) 142 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIRLD. coal or charcoal. This course was continued until the furnace was full- In 24 hours after lighting the furnace, the molten slag began to come down into the hearth, then blast was let on quietly, and in 8 hours thereafter the slag made its appearance at thecinder notch. The pres- sure was increased to about 14ib. per square inch on the 2nd day. During this time the slag formed, and came off in larger quantities, and the hearth quickly filled with spongy iron which would not liquify. To overcome this hinderance, the blast was intensified, and more blank charges of coal were added. The temperature in the hearth increased, and the fire-bricks, the tymp plate, and even the bottom of the hearth were fused ; still the iron that had settled down was so mixed with ‘the ashes of the coal that it would not liquify, and only kept accumulating till the iron reached the top of the tuyeres, and then a stop was put to all further proceedings till the mass was dug out, which was over a ton in weight.” Describing this first assay at iron-making to the South Stafford- shire Mill and Forge Managers’ Association, in a letter, dated Warora, 5th November 1875*, Mr. Ness gives the analyses of the iron ores and coal,t and then says—‘ You can easily calculate from the analyses I have given that the gross amount of foreign matter that would require to go into the furnace to make a ton of iron is not much in excess of many of the mixtures in use at home. I started the furnace in the usual way, possibly giving it a better chance in having it thoroughly dry, and filling it three-fourths full of dried timber before lighting it, and then filling regular charges of coal, limestone and ore, in the proportion of 2, 4th, and I, respectively, with §th charcoal.{ Blast§ was let on gently after the * Mining Journal, 26th December 1875. + These analyses have already been quoted,—see pages 100, 111. { Whilst working, a blank charge of coal in every 10 to 16 charges was added. § Temperature of blast 150° Fahr. The heating apparatus was mainly to dry the air, as when the experiments were made, the air was saturated with moisture, the monsoon not being over. ( 142 ) APPENDICES. 148 first appearance of slag before the tuyeres. Afterwards it was increased to a little over 8lbs. pressure to the square inch, and to about 500 cubic feet per minute in volume. At the end of the time named, I found the hearth full of spongy iron, and though I raised the temperature by blank charges and extra blast till I melted even the fire-bricks forming the hearth, yet the iron would not liquify. On cooling down the furnace to get the mass of iron out, which was over 80 cwt., I found a great portion of it similar to what a puddled ball would be if it were left without being shingled. A number of pieces were cut off and worked in a smith’s forge without any great difficulty. In the mass of iron in the hearth were embedded pieces of ashes from the coal which had dropped Con decrepitates at down past the tuyeres without being fused. At tunnel head. the tunnel head I noticed that the coal rapidly decrepitated, which is doubtless due to the quantity of moisture it contains. This impoverished coal then descended to the zone of fusion just above the tuyeres, with little or nothing left to do the work required of it.” The sectional diagram, which was communicated with the paper, showed that the furnace was 24’ high; that the Pasion disgram of ton of the bosh was 6’ 6” in diameter ; that the top of the hearth was 2’ 6” diameter; and that the bottom of the hearth was 2’ 0” diameter. The throat of the furnace was 3’ 10° diameter, and the tunnel head 5’ 6”; the tuyeres were 23” diame- ter in the nozzle. The hearth about 3’ 6’ deep. The blowing engine is a small horizontal one, with a receiver intermediate between the engine apd the hot-air stove, which has four pipes, The air is heated with an ordinary grate and stove. In the discussion that took place after the reading of Mr. Ness’ letter, one speaker showed how coal, not greatly inferior to pea acuation by mem- that with which Mr. Ness had to deal, had been shire Mill and Forge Manngers’ Association. made available for blast furnace purposes, by holes being made in the furnace above the tuyeres and ( 143 ) 144 HUGITES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. against the bosh, and the accumulated ashes and cinders raked out (two or three cart-loads at a time, three or four times a week). In this way the manager kept his furnace from gobbing. The qualsty of the tros suffered by this coal, and the yield was less. The coal of which he had been speaking was that known as the Mealy Grey, or the bottom coal seam of Staffordshire. With the Indian coal, it was thought to be impossible to smelt the rich Indian ore in other than small quantities without an abundance of fluxing materials. A due admixture of the strongly silectous with the rich metallic ores of India would, it was assumed, contribute to this end. Even the majority of the coals of Staffordshire were too weak to carry a heavy burden of iron stone, and some of the members believed that Mr. Ness would best succeed by beginning his experiments with smaller furnaces. Other members, however, thought that the height of the furnace might Possible advantage of be increased with advantage. It was also pointed heightening furnace. out that though Mr. Ness had spoken of having well-aired his furnace, and of putting in blank charges, yet that it had been found well in Staffordshire to consume a whole month in such work before a new furnace was charged with its full burden. (Mining Journal, 5th February 1876.) The chief cause of failure in the attempt to produce iron by the blast furnace system is by Mr. Ness attributed to the unsuitableness of the coal for the purpose. Mr. William Molineux, the President of the Associa- tion, agrees with him that the Warora coal contains a large amount of inorganic matter, and says that to deal with such coal, considerable skill and experience is required. He also thinks that the position of the tuyeres in the furnace might be improved. It appears, from observations made by Mr. Ness, that the coal did not Coal not adapted for Yetaim more than one-third of the fixed carbon it use in blast furnace, had when charged by the time it reached the zone of fusion ; and this feature of its behaviour, together with its tendency to ( 144 ) APPENDICES. 145 decrepitate, and the large amount of ash that it contains, led him to condemn its use in a blast furnace. The coal is evidently unfit to reduce hard refractory ores like those of Léh4ra and Pipalgaon; with the softer ores of Bengal and Deh& Chauri (Kumaon) it will probably answer. After the completion of his preliminary trials with the blast furnace, Mr. Ness put up roughly a small reverberatory Reverberatory furnace. . furnace, to see the action of the coal when burned on a separate grate, whether it was capable of melting and boiling grey cast iron. Although the trial furnace was of a rude description, and without a proper reverberatory arch, the time taken, and the quantity of coal used, did not appear to be much in excess of what is commonly required for such purposes. This result convinced Mr. Ness “ that, with a rege- nerative furnace, both quantity and intensity of heat can readily be obtained from Warora coal for the reduction of the iron ores by a direct process.” The last; experiment has been to pulverise the ore, mix it with milk Ora mixed with milk Of lime, make into balls, and expose to the heat of Inne, of the reverberatory furnace. This plan answered very well. (Mining Journal, 26th February 1876.) SEcTION XXII.—Banpar CoaL-Fiexp. In a paper contributed by me to the Records of our Survey in 1873, I pointed out the vicinity of the village of Bandar in the Chanda dis- trict as a probable coal-bearing area, and I suggested that a few trial borings should be carried down to a small depth in order to prove the correctness of my anticipation. It is gratifying to find that the practical conclusion based on geo- logical evidence as to the existence of coal has been fully confirmed by borings commenced under orders from the Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces, a seam several feet in thickness having been struck in various holes, and thus another item added to the list of the mineral resources of India. ( 145 ) 146 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. The name Bandar having already been adopted in several reports and memoranda to distinguish the measures thus prov- ed to occur, I propose retaining it as the title of the coal-field, and shall consequently refer to this basin as the Bandar Coal-field. The village of Bandar in 1873 consisted of only a few houses; but there is a fine tank near it, and a small hill to the immediate north of it—two features that characterise it amongst the other villages of the field. It is on the highway of traffic between the town of Chimmir and those of Warora and Hinganghat, and being an important watering place during the warm season for the large droves of cattle belonging to the Banjéri grain-carriers, is better and more widely known than its size as a village would lead one to suppose. It is situated 5 miles west of Chimmir, 26 miles north- west of Warora, and 30 miles east of Hinganghat, in latitude 20° 81'N., longitude 79° 21’E. There are no hills and no rivers of any magnitude within the limits of the, Bandar coal-field. Its surface, however, is of No hills and no rivers covered with a fair amount of forest, and there is an exuberance of coarse grass. Name. Position of field. The true coal measures (Bardkars) occupy only a very restricted sur- face area, which I estimate at about five to six square miles, but the total extent of the basin, if the Télchir group be included within its limits, will be far more. Unlike the distribution, however, in other basins, the Télchir rocks here are entirely outside the coal-bearing portion of the field, and except for the connection existing between them and the Barfkars, as groups of the Gondwé4na series, I should have restricted the name Bandar coal-field to the area marked out by the extreme margin of the newer deposite. If we combine the limits of the Télchir formation with those of the other groups, it will be seen by looking at the map that the shape of the basin is roughly that of a parallelogram, the major axis lying N.W.—S.F. ( 146 ) Area. Boundaries. APPENDICES. 147 The boundary rocks along the north-east and south-east margins are respectively crystalline and Vindhyan strata. To the south-west, both series assist to limit the field, and Lametas or infra-trappeans bound it to the north-west. In addition to surface soils, there are but three geological groups comprised within the area of the Bandar field, namely, the Té/chir group, the Bardkar group, and the Xdmthi group. As neither the TAlchirs nor the K&mthis possess any economic interest, and as their lithological and petrological charac- ters are exactly in accord with the description already given in the body of the memoir, to note their occurrence will, I think, be sufficient men- tion of them. Geological groups. Bardkar group (coal measures).—There are two outcrops of this group, one extending from Bandar to Bhansuli and onward, the other commencing a little south of the Gansi stream and stretching northward to about the latitude of Mdérepar. These indicate the south-west and east limits of the coal-bearing area. To the north Berékars pass under the Kémthis overlie the Barékars, and pass, as the Infra-trappean group. latter presumably do also, under the Infra-trappeans. The dip of the Barfkars is towards a medial line of depression, which, starting from a point a litle east of Bandar, passes between Mérepar and Salori. The angle of inclination is not high, and coal would probably be struck in any part of the coal-bearing portion of the field at a depth of something under 900 feet. There are no surface indications of coal, but the bore-holes put down under the superintendence of Mr, Ness proved Maximum thickness of coal 88 fect. —=S=S*S*«sa maximum thicknessof 38 feet, including partings, Instead of being massed in one seam, as is the case in the Wardha valley field, the coal here occurs in two, and sometimes three beds. They are of fair workable thicknesses, and therefore no loss of coal is : ( 147 ) 148 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. implied by this sub-division. For instance, in ote in two or © bore-hole, where there are three beds, the top one measures 7 feet, the next one 17 feet, and the bottom one 6 feet. In D there are two beds, respectively 19 feet and 5 feet. In G, three beds, 6 feet, 9 feet and 7 feet. In H, two beds, 7 feet and 31 feet. The same feature of attenuation of carbonaceous matter towards the outerop is noticeable in this field as inthe adjoining one. To catch this point clearly with the eye, it is merely neces- a Attenuation of carbo- sary to look at the annexed figured sections of A, B and E, which are successively on the line of dip, In further searches for coal, therefore, it will be well to bear in mind the necessity of making a considerable horizontal allowance for possible barren ground. The proved area of coal-bearing land may be set down at one square mile, and the minimum thickness of coal 17 feet ; but I estimate that we have between Bandar and the margin of the Infra-trappean group, at least six square miles of readily workable stock. What the demands likely to be made on this field in the far off future may be I cannot predict, but the requisitions of the next fifty years, should there be any, will probably be only for iron-works, and the lines of rail in communication with them. To meet such requisitions, there is a vast superabundance of fuel. I cannot speak of the quality of the Bandar coal from inspection, but I think it will be safe to assume that it will be ety of coal um- found to be no better and no worse than that from Warora. In connection with the suggestions that are from time to time made by different authorities for the establishment of Jarge metallur- oe * Supplement to Gazette of India, 28th November 1874, ( 148 ) APPENDICES. 149 gical works for the production of iron, it has Bandar field advanta- ; * geo a tte for Become. ‘already been pointed out by myself * that the dating Pipalgaon and Bandar coal basin would be the most advan- Lohara Iron fields. tageous site for accommodating the ore-fields of Pipalgaon and Lohfra. This would, however, necessitate the opening out of new pits; and if the past experience in sinking be taken as the gauge of the cost of future shafts, it may be well to bearin mind the recom- mendation of the Chief Engineer of the Central Provinces, to employ the large sum of money such operations would certainly require in assisting in the construction of a tramway from Pipalgaon to the mines at Warora,* thus making Warora the head-quarters of the iron and coal works of the Wardha valley. Bandar. A. Bore-hole. Commenced 8rd January 1874, Finished 18th February 1874. 1. Sand nae see ove wes 2. Red sandstone... ves vee ove vee 3. Yellow-clay ... vee ves eve 4. Variegated carbonaceous ly wee wee 5. White sandstone - aes wee oe 6. Variegated sandstones oe oes ove wes 7. Dark carbonaceous clay... oes ove oes 8. Yellow sandstone aoe ee ove 9. Dark carbonaceous clay 10. Yellow clay 11. White sandstone 12. Dark yellow clay 13. White, brown and variegated sandstones CE ankarannwatuaonmaaw ds escoooooooocooocooocs 14, Shale, very dark vee sos _ . 15. White sandstones e eee - 16. Bluish white sandstones _... eee WALTER NESS, Superintendent, Warora Colliery. * A private company would probably open out the Bandar field ata much less cost than Government. ( 149 ) 150 HUGHES: WARDHA VALLEY COAL-FIELD. Bandar B. Bore-hole. Commenced 17th February 1874. Finished 4th March 1874, Ft. In. 1, Sand bed of river - eee ae wee 9 0 2. Yellow and white sandatones see ove ~ 33 O 8. Yellow clay .. os woe ows 38 0 4. Carbonaceous clay tee ves oe oe 5 0 5. Fine and coarse white sandstones eee vee -. 23 0 6. Light carbonaceous clay... ove ase 0 2 0 7. Dark ditto ove ove oes ose 3 0 8. Coaly shale .. ase eee ove ove 1 0 9. Coal ors ove oes ove wee 8 6 10. Coaly shale ... wes ase vee ~ O 6 11. Dark clay with shale vee os ose ove 9 0 12. White sandstone 14 0 13. Light brown sandstone . ae wee ves 5 O 14, Shale, very hard ove ves owe .« 2 0 15. Coal ves wee oes wee 1 O 16. Shale ose we wee ove “ 4 0 17. White sandstones aes vee ves ~ 4% 0 Total .. 195 O WALTER NESS, Superintendent, Warora Colltery. Bandar. C. Bore-hole. Commenced 6th March 1874, Finished 2lst March 1874. Ft. In. 1. Sand bed of river os aes aoe ees 2 0 2. Yellow clay ___... we . 2 0 3. White, grey, yellow and variegated sandstones ove . %@3 0 4. Shale, very hard oe see oes ees 1 0 6. Coal oes wee wes ove 7 0 6. Variegated sandstone aes ase ove w. 26 0 7. Shale, very dark nee aes ase ove 2 0 8. Coal ove vee ove .»