W. S. Mercer was not listed in the 1905 edition of Reference Book of the Lumbermen's Credit Association, January 1907 but was listed in the 1907 edition as a manufacturer of shingles. Mercer also had a sawmill, for he mortgaged “20,000 feet of lumber & entire output of sawmill” to Farmers & Merchant State Bank for $250 in 1907. By, 1910, Mercer had a grist mill, for on January 15, he, from Blanton Bros, mortgaged for $300 on January 15, 1910, a boiler, a steam engine, sawmill and gin machinery.