Ed Mitchell bought the assets and liabilities of the M and W Lumber Company, owned by Roy L. Willis and located one mile south of Splendora, in 1953. Equipment included a diesel-powered sawmill, a Yates planing mill, a dry kiln, a Ross lift, a moulder, a resaw, a 2-saw trimmer, three electric motors, a knife grinder, and trucks and trailers.
The company was listed in the 1957 edition of Nelson Samson's Directory of Wood-Using and Related Industries in East Texas. The Directory of Texas Manufacturers 1956-1958 reported that E. C. Mitchell was operating the Mitchell Lumber Company at Box 4, Porter. Established in 1950, the company employed about twenty workers and manufactured structural timbers.