The Kizer family operated lumber mills at Texarkana and Corley, in Bowie County, and at Springdale, in Cass County, before 1880. W. B. Kizer was the chief operating officer. The Texarkana mill began as a planing mill, perhaps finishing rough lumber from the Springdale mill, located about twenty miles south on the Texas & Pacific. During the reporting period of the 1880 Census, the mill operated at reduced hours year-round. It was valued at $2,400. Kizer paid from $1.25 to $2.00 per day to five employees, who worked nine to eleven hours daily.
A “Kiser Lumber Company” appeared in the 1884 Rand, McNally and Company directory of lumber mills and dealers as a dealer in lumber at Texarkana. That same year, the Kizers bought land and steam machinery on Frost Street from James Strong, indicating they were expanding the Texarkana plant to include sawmilling. By 1893, the company was cutting 40,000 feet of lumber daily, according to a newspaper report. The plant operated into the later part of the 1890s.