The firm of J. N. Hicks appeared in the 1915 edition of the Directory of American Sawmills at Pittsburg, Camp County in 1915. Hicks may have been sawmilling some years earlier, for R. A. Morris sold Hicks acreage and timber in the Moses Barnes survey in Camp and Titus counties in 1909, where Hicks had bought timber and acres from Maude C. Maydwell in 1902.