Once a rich Town

A small town that holds a history of the underground tin mine industry in our country. Just a straight road from Kuatan, all the way it ends at this small town. The mining history dates back in 1923.

People’s life is simple and less of stress in this town. A really small and sleepy town this is what I experienced of this place over a weekend trip for waterfall adventure.

 Houses are still in old style “malay kampong” houses and there ruins everywhere too. Majority are Chinese and followed by Malays. There are many old wooden shop lots and most of them are closed as people are moving away to bigger towns for survival. The town situated near to the river and on the main street there are an avenue of majestic trees which are very old indeed.

Sungai Lembing was a major producer of underground tin.

Hisotry of Sungai Lembing :

The town developed in the 1880's when the British set up the tin mining industry, although the history of mining in this area extends much further back. From 1891, the Pahang Consolidated Company Limited, (PCCL), which was under British control, had a 77-year lease to mine the area. PCCL managed the mine from 1906 until its liquidation in 1986 when world tin prices collapsed.

The pit mines were closed in 1986 due to high operational costs and low yields, but during their heyday they were among the largest and deepest in the world. The total tunnel length is 322 km, with a depth of between 610 m and 700 m. A museum highlighting the tin mining industry was opened in 2003. The museum is housed in an old bungalow once used by the mine manager. The museum houses a collection of mining artifacts. Today the town of Sg Lembing is in decline although it was once the richest town in Pahang, known as El Dorado of the East. In the 1940's about 1400 people worked in the mine.

( Google for the History Information from Wikipedia )

Indeed it was an experience visiting this town and going back to its history.