Queen City Lumber Company, according to John D. Hanes, built a sawmill two miles north of Atlanta in 1888. The company, in 1893, was reported to be cutting 50,000 feet daily at Queen City. During the early years, it operated a joint tram operation with Grigsby Brothers, Scott, and Temple.
By 1909, a document that indicates it might have been in financial trouble also reveals aspects of its operations. On October 11, 1909, the company mortgaged the following assets to the Texarkana National Bank. Equipment included a sawmill, a planing mill, an edger, moulder, resaw, three steam engines, two boilers, circular saws, fifteen buggies, and three sets of tenant housing. Five two- and three-room houses were located each at the planing mill and Mill No. 2. Mill No. 1 had ten two- and three-bedroom tenant houses. Joe Fuqua was listed as the company president of Queen City Lumber Company.