The village is known as a gold mining area since the Dutch colonial era in 1910.

After Indonesia became independent in 1945, gold mines and relics of the Dutch building was taken over by the Lebong Tandai people.

[1] This remote village is connected to the outside world with the so called Motor Lori Ekspress or "Molek" railway.

The service, which consisted of motored draisines operated by locals, connected Lebong Tandai with the village of Air Tenang, also in Napal Putih, via 35 kilometres (22 mi) former gold mining railway route through Sumatran jungle.

The railway line was built by the Dutch colonial in the 1900s.