J. H. Risckes, according to the Census of 1880, owned and operated a sawmill of a d value of $4,000 in Harrison County. The mill employed fifty men at peak production and twenty-five normally. They earned from $1.25 to $2.50 per day depending on their level of skill and worked eleven-hour shifts winter and summer. Risckes paid $6,000 in total wages. The mill, in six months, manufactured 3,000,000 feet of lumber worth $30,000 from $17,000 worth of sawlogs and supplies.