The Northwestern Lumberman reported the mill of Adams & Mills at Neches in a railroad listing in 1880. The census that year listed it under 1880 in Division 7 under Alexander Adams at Neches. Webb noted that the International & Great Northern created the stop in Anderson County about four miles from the Neches River. The stop was named after the river.
The Alexander Adams mill operated for nine months during the census year ending May 31, 1880. It was valued at $2,200 and Adams paid from $1.00 to $2.00 per day to twelve employees (including two children under the age of sixteen), for a total in $1,050 in wages. The work day was ten hours. Adams did not do his own logging. From $3,700 in logs and mill supplies, the mill produced 700,000 board feet for a gross value of $7,000. The firm did its own logging around the mill.