Garrett Holcomb (1866-1925) operated a sawmill and cotton gin for some years two miles west of Alto off Highway 21. This mill may have been the foundation of the very successful rotary veneer mill, the Alto Gin & Crate Factory, which Holcomb founded about 1928.
Holcomb mortgaged with Dilley in 1899 and 1900 in order to acquire a boiler and planing mill equipment. He may have already had the sawmill in his possession.