Bowie Lumber Company appears in county records as early as 1888, when M. D. Tilson sold it land located near the Texas & Pacific tracks. Other entries reveal that company offices were located at Texarkana while it continued to buy land near the Sulphur River and north of the town of Ingersoll.
Central Coal and Coke Company bought the Bowie Lumber Company's Texarkana plant in early 1893, which had been cutting 40,000 feet daily that year. With new owners, the company popularly known as ‘4-C,' replaced the single circular saw configuration with a band mill, while it began construction on a newer mill. The new plant began operations in January 1894, and its saw configuration was most likely a double band. The American Lumberman reported in 1900 that the plant suffered a fire in the spring of 1895 and a new plant was built, cutting shortleaf yellow pine. W. H. Carson was the superintendent.
A 1901 publication listed the mill's capacity at 175,000 feet daily. The 4-C company built another mill at Neame, Louisiana around 1898, and operated both mills until summer 1902 when the Texarkana plant was dismantled and relocated at Carson, Louisiana. It is believed the Texarkana plant was not moved until after the 4-C plant at Ratcliff (Kennard) was already operating. The Ratcliff mill's “trial run” was May 20, 1902.