| Historicial Development: | L. E. Brown had a sawmill in the western part of Harrison County during the enumeration of the Census of 1880. The Northwestern Lumberman's The Lumberman's Directory of Saw Mills, Shingle Mills and Other Wood Working Factories in the Northwest, South, and Southwest (1880) reports that Longview, in Gregg County, was the mill's location; rather, it must have been where the office was located. Nancy Ruff lists L. E. Brown as running sawmill at Hallsville in Harrison County, Texas, Caucasian Residents in 1880.
The Census s the sawmill was a capital value of $2,000. The mill employed twenty men at peak production and sixteen normally. They earned from $1.25 to $2.50 per day depending on their level of skill and worked eleven-hour shifts winter and summer. The mill, in six months, manufactured 2,000,000 feet of lumber worth $20,000 from $11,5000 worth of sawlogs and supplies.
The Rand, McNally and Company's Directory and Shipping Guide of Lumber Mills and Lumber Dealers did not list Brown's sawmill in either Harrison or Gregg counties in 1884. |