Jacob Mauthe had two steam sawmills located in Gregg County in the latter 1870s. The Monkey Lake Mill, or Neal Mill, was located about eight miles west of Longview on the Alvice tract of land at Merrill Lake. The second was a portable sawmill identified as the “Mauthe Mill No. 2,” and it was situated at the International & Great Northern crossing over the Sabine River.
Mauthe sold both mills to William Keechle for $2,500. The sale also included forty oxen and five log wagons. These mills were transferred from Wm Keechle to Cooper, Hardin & Co (John W. Cooper, A. H. S. Hardin, and French Cooper). They sold both mills and 1,650 acres to F. J. McCord and John M. Duncan for $19,500.
Ownership of the mills becomes confusing. A railroad directory in 1880 lists both Jacob Mauthe and Hardin, Cooper & Co at Gladewater but not McCord and Duncan.