John Barron, a Justice of the Peace in Precinct 6 for the county, and living in residence 229, had $2000 invested in a thirty-five horsepower steam sawmill in Cherokee County in 1880. The mill ran year round from seven to ten hours per day during the census year ending May 31, 1880. Barron employed ten hands (five children under seventeen years old), and paid $1.00 to $2.50 per day in wages, totaling $1000 for the year. Barron did his own logging.
In 1884, Barron's mill was listed at Lone Star in the Rand, McNally and Company's Directory and Shipping Guide of Lumber Mills and Lumber Dealers.