Lynch Davidson, after five years as secretary and sales manager of the Emporia Lumber Company, joined with J. M. West in forming the Continental Lumber Company and the West Lumber Company in January 1903. The initial mills of these companies were at Westville, Trinity County; and Stanley, Polk County. They had expanded to Houston by 1905.
The Continental Lumber Company, according to the Southern Industrial and Lumber Review in April 1904, owned and controlled the output of the mill at Stanley, Texas. This mill at Stanley, a stop on the Houston East and West Texas, just north of Livingston, was probably that of the Russell mill, the only mention being carried by the Beaumont Enterprise, June 11, 1905, announcing that the timber for the mill was nearly all cut and the operation would be moved.