M. B. Smith operated a steam circular sawmill in Leon County in 1879 and 1880.
The Manuscript Census of 1880, reporting for June 1, 1879 to May 31, 1880, detailed the business operations of the sawmill. The sawmill, d a capital value of $3,600, worked fifteen men at peak,and ten men and one child normally. The employees received daily wages of $.75 to $1.50 for eight hour days in the winters and ten-hour days in the winter. Smith paid a total wage of $1,200. From a total value of $4,000 of supplies and sawlogs, the sawmill manufactured 600,000 feet of lumber, worth a gross value of $6,600.
The sawmill worked six of the twelve months of the reporting period.