History of Khewra Salt Mines , World Second Largest Salt Mine  

IN 326 BC, ALEXANDER THE Great, the Greek King renowned for overcoming a realm going from Asia into Africa and Europe, was advancing across Pakistan. Halting his military for a rest in the space currently known as Khewra, Alexander's pony started licking the stones on the ground. Seeing that every one of the ponies were doing as such and observing, a fighter himself attempted one and tracked down that the stones were very pungent. The Khewra salt stores had been found. 

Today, approximately 2330 years after the fact, the Khewra salt mines are the second biggest on the planet — behind the Sifto Canada, Inc., salt mine in Goderich, Ontario — turning out 325,000 tons of salt each year, and an expected 220 million tons over its lifetime. This is scarcely even an imprint in the gigantic salt stores here, which are supposed to be 6.687 billion tons. Authoritatively, salt mining wasn't recorded until the 1200s under the Janjua-Raja' clan, yet salt has most likely been mined and exchanged here since Alexander's time. 

Covering a space of 110 sq. km, 228 meters or 748 feet down (with 11 separate stories), the monstrous mine has more than 40 kilometers of passages running about 730 meters, or almost a large portion of a mile into the mountain under which the salt stores are found. To hold the tremendous space back from imploding in on itself, just half of the salt found is mined; the other half fills in as help sections to hold up the mine. With a particularly gigantic region, an enormous labor force, and the simplicity of cutting and working with salt blocks, some intriguing sights have been worked inside the salt mine. 

Among the most punctual design worked inside the mine is the little Badshahi Mosque, complete with a little salt minaret. Fabricated all the more as of late, explicitly to draw in sightseers, are little salt forms of the Great Wall of China, the Mall street of Murree, Lahore's Shimla slope, and the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore. Both the mosque and the miniatures are worked from salt blocks, which differ in shading from red to pink to white, and which are presently lit electrically and transmit a lovely warm shine. Now and again, the many tones and blocks of light give the mine a kind of disco-Yellow-Brick-Road look. 

Different sights — and there are many — incorporate a 75-meter-tall "get together corridor" chamber with steps spiraling up the dividers, a 25-foot-long Salt Bridge called the Pul-saraat (an implication to the Islamic "Pul-e-Saraat," a scaffold you should cross on Judgment Day which is depicted as "more slender than a strand of hair and more keen than a blade"), saline solution lakes, and excellent salt-gem arrangements like underground rock formations. Quite a bit of this can be seen from the limited measure electric rail line, set up since the 1930s, which once separated salt from the mines and presently brings vacationers into them. 

The Khewra salt mine even has its own completely working postal office, for use by the specialists. The mail center is fabricated completely from salt blocks and is the solitary mail center worked out of salt on the planet. 

While a famous traveler objective today, the salt mines were the location of severe persecution and constrained work by the British during the 1800s. Excavators were secured in the mines and not permitted to leave until they satisfied their amounts. This included pregnant ladies and kids, and various kids were brought into the world inside the mine. Hits were met with savagery from the British, and in 1876, twelve minors were shot and killed at the passage to the mines. Their graves can be seen at the center entryways of the mines. 

One can taste the yield of this salt mine by going to their nearby staple and searching for "Himalayan Salt," a rosy or pink stone salt. It is essentially more delightful then your normal table salt, and accompanies a substantially more fascinating history. 

Know Before You Go 

Motorway M2:The quickest approach to arrive at Khewra mines is through motorway M2. The mines are found 30km east of Lilla exchange towards Pind Dadan Khan. Street signs are very noticeable. 

Expressway N5: A more slow however beautiful methodology is additionally accessible from GT road?from Mandra.?Distances?from Mandra (0km)are:?Chakwal (63km), Choa Saidan Shah (93km) and Khewra (103km). 

There are two trains day by day between Malakwal Jn and Khewra which cover 27km distance in definite 60 minutes. You need to change trains at Malakwal Jn which is associated with Lala Musa Jn on mainline toward one side and Sargodha Jn at other. There are 6 day by day prepares on this Lala Musa - Malakwal - Sargodha course.