W. W. Manning, with a fellow named Rush, operated the first steam-powered sawmill in Angelina County in the year 1855. He employed between nine to twelve individuals annually. The county tax roll in 1877 lists the Manning and Rush sawmill, with $500 worth of manufacturing tools; $2,000 worth of goods and merchandise; and they paid a $35 miscellaneous tax but no land tax. During the census year ending May 31, 1880, W. W. Manning ran an 18-horsepower steam sawmill in Angelina County, perhaps near Homer. More than $2500 was d invested in the mill, which operated during the year for six months full time and four months half time. Manning employed nine employees (four were over sixteen years old), and paid them from $0.75 to $1.00 per day. Work days ranged from eight to eleven hours, depending on the season. Manning did all his own logging and manufactured only rough stock.
Archie Birdsong Matthews believed that this was the sawmill equipment that Manning moved to his plant on the V. Michelli grant. Matthews was probably wrong, for in 1882, Manning and Rush rendered, in an entry separate from Manning's other mill that year, $2,000 in goods, wares, and merchandise.