The Directory of Texas Manufacturers 1956-1958 reported that the J. A. Sartain Lumber Company began operating a sawmill at Newton in 1944. The Texas Forest News reported in 1958 that the sawmill had closed in 1958 because of the increasing costs of manufacturing lumber.
This company had employed more than 100 workers at the pine and hardwood mills and in the woods at a $40,000 payroll monthly. The Gulf Coast Lumberman carried an ad on December 15, 1958, that J. A. Sartain had two complete sawmills, a planing mill, and a dry kiln for sale. Southern Lumberman carried a Sartain advertisement that he was selling in 1963 a 406 B planer and matcher, and a 54-inch McDonald resaw.