Beauchamp Bros and Harding had $2000 invested in a 24-horsepower steam sawmill in Cherokee County in 1880. The mill ran only six months during the census year ending May 31, 1880. One boiler ran a 24-horsepower steam engine and a circular saw. The owners employed five hands (all over sixteen years old), and paid $0.50 to $2.00 per day in wages, totaling $400 for the year. The average work day was ten hours; the mill ran full time for six months and was idle the remainder of the year. Beauchamp and Harding did their own logging. From $1,600 worth of sawlogs and mill supplies, the mill cut 200,000 feet of lumber worth $2,050.
The mill was located in Precinct 2, District 13, residences 283 to 285. Employees included John W. Harding (age 28), Wm. Beauchamp, Samuel Beauchamp, Alonzo “Lonnie” Beauchamp (age 9), and James Beauchamp (steam engineer).
In 1882, Beauchamp and Harding were recorded in the Cherokee County chattel mortgage registers. Beauchamp & Harding mortgaged to Dilley for $660 a sawmill and a 50-horsepower steam engine.
By 1884, Beauchamp and Harding had taken on another Beauchamp partner, for the firm of Beauchamp Bros and Harding appeared in an 1884 directory of lumber mills.