R. G. Brown and J. J. Flewellen, both of Harrison County, partnered early in lumbering at Longview in Gregg County. They bought land in Upshur and Gregg counties, and Brown was running a tram road eleven miles into Upshur County by 1893 to the banks of the Little Cypress Bayou.
Brown bought out Flewellen sometime before 1900. The “Lumber Mills of Texas,” Southern Industrial and Lumber Review noted that the R. G. Brown sawmill was cutting 20,000 feet daily in 1906. Also listed in the LCA for 1905 and 1907, the mill was a member of the Yellow Pine Manufacturers Association.
A map published in 1907 places the mill to the south of the Texas & Pacific tracks and to the east of the end of Methvin and North streets. Equipment included two 60-horsepower steam engines for running the sawmill and a 50-horsepower steam engine for the planing mill.
The Brown and Flewellen Lumber Company of Longview dissolved in January 1908 when R. G. Brown bought out J. J. Flewellen. The sale included a nine-mile tram that ran nine miles north from Longview, all sawmills, planers, warehouses, commissaries, etc. The sale price was $5,000.