An Englishman, Sir john Campbell a miner himself saw the water pathway as a brilliant method of transporting tin ore. In 1935, he discovered that the Kelam cave was rich in tin. He got a Chinese tin miner by the name of Loh Ah Tong to built a hanging bridge to the tin miners. So they built the hanging bridge from a mine located near the stream entrance through the underground cavern to Kaki Bukit.

The locals too have used this cave as a shortcut through the hill between Kaki Bukit and Wang Kelian for a long time. It seemed that, during World War II the Japanese army transported ammunition from Thailand through Gua Kelam! No wonder we lost alot to the Thais!. Communist guerrillas and smugglers also made use of the cave. Even motorcycles were allowed to go through this bridge.

During the 1950 to 1970's it was said that, every year approximately 600 pikul of tin were mined and the Chinese sinkheks population grew to 2000. In the small sleepy town today, you can see some surviving descendants of early sinkheks still living in the vicinity. Now what is left of Kelam caves is a reminder of old history and I am sure glad the air smells more green then tin or bats flying.