| Historicial Development: | J. M. Oden operated a lumber mill at Flanagan in Rusk County during the first decade of the twentieth century. Oden, according to Panola County records, sold 500,000 feet of lumber and twenty mules at the planer and mill in Flanagan to his own firm, Oden & Robinson, for $3,000. On March 30, 1904, Oden bought an Erie City 16-inch by 18-inch steam engine from R. E. Trabue, significantly upgrading the cutting capacity of his sawmill. On October 4, 1904, Oden and Robinson bought the sawmill of the Pine Tree Lumber Company for $510.14. Although the Pine Tree Lumber Company was listed in the 1905 LCA rating book it is not known if Robinson and Odem operated the sawmill or dismantled and moved it to Flanagan.
J. M. Odem was listed in the listings of the LCA for 1905 and 1907 with a sawmill and planer.
In 1907, J. M. Oden had been joined by M. E. Oden. On January 11, 1907, their Deed of Trust was released by Cicero Smith & Son on January 11, 1907. The document had secured the tram road from Flanagan to Boren and the sawmill at the former. Tram equipment consisted of a ten-mile steel tram road, a locomotive, five log cars, a hand car, a push car, etc., at Boren. The sawmill was located at Flanagan.
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