John Durst operated a water mill in Cherokee County during 1832, according to the Cherokee County History. He and his brothers Jacob and Joseph lived in the Cherokee County area during the 1820s. Jacob Durst died at the Alamo; he was one of the twenty-one members of the Gonzales relief expedition to the old mission. John Durst moved to Leon County about 1843.
The mill, in fact, was probably located within the boundaries of Nacogdoches County. Phil Sanders wrote in his article that Durst built his sawmill at a location about fifteen miles west of Nacogdoches, at “Los Terreros” or the Mounds, below the mouth of Mill Creek on Angelina River. This area, in 1945, was situated about one and one-quarter mile east of the Hinkley Bridge over the Angelina River. The ghost town of Mount Stirling was built with lumber from Durst's Mill.