Lane Matthews remembered that J. C. Stewart, Jr. had a small portable “thick ‘n thin” sawmill that he operated for a number of years in the Chireno area. Stewart employed day laborers. Because the mill was a portable model, Stewart did not operate a commissary. The Directory of Texas Manufacturers 1956-1958 lists the the J. C. Stewart, Jr. sawmill firm at Chireno. That year Stewart employed about eight workers who produced rough and green lumber. The mill was also listed in the Directory of Wood-Using and Related Industries in East Texas, published in 1957.