M. B. Menard and Thomas F. McKinney operated a sawmill along Menard Creek for about fifteen years. Menard was the founder of Galveston and McKinney was one of its first merchants and a financier for the Revolution. McKinney belonged to the biggest economic firm in Texas (McKinney, Williams, and Company), which built McKinney's steamboats at Galveston. The lumber from Menard Creek was undoubtedly shipped to Galveston.
The writings of Sam Houston reveal that McKinney was floating cotton down the Angelina River to Sabine Pass as early as 1830.
In 1842, two slaves working at the mill died when its boiler exploded. It dismantled in 1848 when it had cutout the timber.