The mill of Laban G. Suggs operated for six months during the census year ending May 31, 1880. It was valued at $3,000, and Suggs paid from $1.00 to $2.00 per day each to twenty employees for a ten-hour shift. Pay varied from $1.00 to $2.00 daily for unskilled and skilled labor. He paid $2,250 total in wages. The plant cut 1,500,000 board feet from $4,600 in supplies and sawlogs for a gross value of $10,000. Suggs did his own logging. The Northwestern Lumberman reported that he also had a planing mill in 1880, and located his facility at Neches. Suggs did his logging in the “neighborhood.”
Webb noted that the International & Great Northern created a stop in Anderson County about four miles from the Neches River. The stop was named after the river.