Before the Second World War, the gravel pit formed part of the company “Lubelskie Kopalnie Granitu i Żwiru”. A railway siding connected it to the Małkinia–Sokołów Podlaski line. After the German occupation of these areas, the district governor in Sokołów Podlaski, Ernst Gramss, established a concrete-producing company based on raw materials obtained from the local gravel pit.
Due to a shortage of cheap labour, Gramss ordered the establishment of the Treblinka I Labour Camp near the gravel pit. In practice, most newly arrived prisoners began their imprisonment with work in the gravel pit. This involved the manual extraction of gravel and loading it into tipper wagons, known in Polish as koleby. It was one of the most physically demanding tasks performed by prisoners. The sick and exhausted often died or were killed by camp personnel.