Newton Payne and E. A. Blount had a sawmill site near the tracks of the Houston East & West Texas in the northeastern part of the county in 1900. Payne had been buying land in the T. S. Pullin survey (DR 31) in 1893 and in the Albert Emmanuel Grant (DR 31) in 1894. Payne and Blount were in business by 1900, for in February of that year E. A. Blount released a lien on 100 acres in the M. D. Castro Grant so that Newton Payne could sell the land to Tim Long and Tom Curry.
In August 1900, R. H. Lee, for $3,820.50, bought 1529 acres of stumpage in Blocks 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14 of the M. D. Castro grant, to the north and west of the Houston East and West Texas and mill site of Payne and Blount. Lee did not buy the mill site of Payne and Blount at that time.