August May (the spelling is uncertain because of the illegible nature of the handwriting), according to the Census of 1880, owned and operated a sawmill facility in the Plantersville Precinct of Grimes County from 1879 to 1880. The mill was d a capital value of $5,000 and powered by a steam boiler and engine, generating 35-horsepower. The mill force included eight men who earned between 75 cents and $1.00 per each eight-hour day they worked. The work force was paid a total of $750 in wages during the reporting period. The mill, operating for five months on a half-time basis, produced five hundred thousand board feet of lumber from $3,650 worth of raw materials and was valued at $6,000.
This mill conducted its own logging near the vicinity of the mill.