This photo submitted by Jawa Barat / Fb / Ipoh Discovery Channel should be in the area near RTC (Rural Transformation Centre) after Kg Kepayang and before Gopeng. It was dated 1920. The pipeline is a giveaway.
Photo was taken from the west across the main road.
Kinta Kid
Thanks kintakid for posting this 1920 picture of the Tekka Hill area.
ReplyDeleteAs per your description, the RTC is in front of the third limestone hill from the left of the photo, where the attap huts and pipeline used to be.
The hill has eroded a bit on the peak and on the bare steep sides. I wonder whether this is the hill where an underground river runs through it or one of the others.
As for the pipeline which supplied water to the Tekka Mine, I also wonder whether it was the one built by French Tekka or connected to the one built by Gopeng Consolidated Ltd.
French Tekka also built a hydro power station upstream of their water supply.
Sometime in the 70s, I could see Royal Malaysian Air Force planes bombed the hills behind Tekka on a Saturday at about 11am as I was making my way home from work. I was taken by surprise as there was no road traffic and was the only person on the then trunk road.
Gopeng Consolidated Ltd sunk a diamond core drill through the granitic Tekka Hill to look for tin. No viable deposit was found.
Thanks for that bit of Tekka. Always thought Tekka was confined to Kampar.
DeleteAbout
that 'bombing' the hills was used by the MCP Communist as their 'private highway" from 60's till late 70's.
Hello kintakid,
DeleteAnother French mining group called SEK (abbreviated) was mining in Kampar right to the 80s.
As for French Tekka in Gopeng, I believe it was responsible for the Catholic Church in Gopeng and also the Novena Church at the junction of Tambun Road and Golf Club Road. The latter was demolished in the 90s giving way to a multistorey building.
Yes the main range behind Tekka Hill was a communist hotbed.
Following from my earlier comment and after referring to the Osborne & Chappel Story, page 59, there were two pipelines at Tekka, both separate form the Gopeng Water Supply which came from Kampar. Around 1915 period.
ReplyDeleteThe first one supplied the Tekka Mine operated by Gopeng Consolidated Ltd. This mine was more or less opposite the Gopeng Batu Gajah junction.
The second one supplied the French Tekka Mine further south (maybe a mile away) just before the River Teja.
So was this pipeline the River Teja one?