In 1940, Hamilton Pratt Easton interviewed Tom Hickman of Corrigan. Mr. Hickman told him of a sawmill at Moscow that was built “by a man named Mickens” about 1855. W.T. Block of Nederland has identified “Mickens” as Moses Meekins. Webb in the Handbook of Texas recorded this sawmill as being at or near Moscow, in Polk County.
The Polk County tax rolls reveal that Moses Meekins, a prominent planter near Moscow, had a controlling interest in 1857. His junior partners may have been A. Holcomb and E. S. Smith. The sawmill had a capital value of $2,600. Meekins owned eighteen slaves and Smith another seven, but it is not known if the slaves were used in the timber and lumber business.
By 1870, according to that year's census, Meekins had a partner named G. Dunnam. They had a steam saw mill worth $2,000 powered by a 17-horsepower engine running one saw. They paid three men over four months a total of $300. With $400 worth of 12,000 saw logs, the mill produced 150,000 feet of pine lumber worth $1,500.
W. T. Block believes this mill was operated by slaves.