By 1954, R. P. Hardin and Doyle Lindsey owned the Alto Lumber Company. In that year, Hardin sold his share to Doyle. Equipment included the sawmill, mill shed, one 185-horsepower Walker-Shaw motor, a carriage, eight saws, saw grinder, blower, double end trimmer, edger, one winch truck, a 1938 Chevrolet truck, a 1953 Ford truck, a trailer, a 1953 International truck, a loader, a boiler, one Cat motor, 400 feet of conveyor chain, and a Ford winch truck.
The Lindseys, husband and wife, sold their share of the sawmill in Alto to H. A. Lindsey in 1955, according to Cherokee County bills of sale, as well as the Lindsey grocery located about a mile south of town.
The Directory of Texas Manufacturers, 1956-1958 lists H. A. and Doyle Lindsey as sawmillers at Alto in 1956. The firm was established as partnership in 1938. In 1956, H. A. Lindsey managed operations with less than twenty-five workers making pine and hardwood lumber.