Jacob Mauthe had two steam sawmills located in Gregg County in the latter 1870s. The first one was known as the Monkey Lake Mill, or Neal Mill, located about eight miles west of Longview on the Alvice tract of land at Merrill Lake.
The second was known as Mauthe's Mill No 2: this was located on the Armstrong tract of land on the north bank of the Sabine River. Its equipment included steam machinery, the sawmill, two lath machines, three planers, two resaws, a band saw, a spoke lathe, three sets of blacksmith tools, three mules, ninety-six oxen, two two-horse wagons, five tram cars and sets of harness, and a log turner.
Mauthe sold his two steam sawmills to William Keechle for $2,500. The sale also included forty oxen, five log wagons. The Monkey Lake mill of Mauthe's had come into the hands of by P. E. King. He mortgaged it for $1,000 in March 1878, due March 12, 1879. Equipment included five log wagons and forty oxen. Both mills were transferred later from Wm Keechle to Cooper, Hardin & Co (John W. Cooper, A. H. S. Hardin, and French Cooper), who sold them to F. J. McCord and John M. Duncan.
Ownership of the mills becomes confusing. A railroad directory lists both Jacob Mauthe and Hardin, Cooper & Co at Gladewater but not McCord and Duncan.