1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Kolar

KOLAR, a town and district of India, in the state of Mysore. The town is 43 m. E. of Bangalore. Pop. (1901), 12,210. Although of ancient foundation, it has been almost completely modernized. Industries include the weaving of blankets and the breeding of turkeys for export.

The District of Kolar has an area of 3180 sq. m. It occupies the portion of the Mysore table-land immediately bordering the Eastern Ghats. The principal watershed lies in the north-west, around the hill of Nandidrug (4810 ft.), from which rivers radiate in all directions; and the whole country is broken by numerous hill ranges. The chief rivers are the Palar, the South Pinakini or Pennar, the North Pinakini, and the Papagani, which are industriously utilized for irrigation by means of anicuts and tanks. The rocks of the district are mostly syenite or granite, with a small admixture of mica and feldspar. The soil in the valleys consists of a fertile loam; and in the higher levels sand and gravel are found. The hills are covered with scrub, jungle and brushwood. In 1901 the population was 723,600, showing an increase of 22% in the decade. The district is traversed by the Bangalore line of the Madras railway, with a branch 10 m. long, known as the Kolar Goldfields railway. Gold prospecting in this region began in 1876, and the industry is now settled on a secure basis. Here are situated the mines of the Mysore, Champion Reef, Ooregum, and Nandidrug companies. To the end of 1904 the total value of gold produced was 21 millions sterling, and there had been paid in dividends 9 millions, and in royalty to the Mysore state one million. The municipality called the Kolar Gold Fields had in 1901 a population of 38,204; it has suffered severely from plague. Electricity from the falls of the Cauvery (93 m. distant) is utilized as the motive power in the mines. Sugar manufacture and silk and cotton weaving are the other principal industries in the district. The chief historical interest of modern times centres round the hill fort of Nandidrug, which was stormed by the British in 1791, after a bombardment of 21 days.