W. T. Block's oral interview with Drayton Speights, of Hemphill, Texas, revealed the Drayton Speights Lumber Company operated a sawmill three miles above Hemphill from 1944 to 1957. Speights employed thirty-five workers most of the time. He did his own logging but contracted most of it out. His shipping was done by trucking, primarily to Dallas. Speights told Beasley that his mill closed in 1952. Samson still listed in his 1957 edition.