Webb reported that “La Merle” was a ghost town of Sabine County and that it had a sawmill.
Sabine County records reveal that the firm of Harris and Henry operated two sawmills in Sabine County, one at Lamerle, and the other near Rush. In October, 1906, Henry and Harris sold to W. Y. Garrison Lumber Company 143 acres of the George English survey and the Ross sawmill near Rush, Texas. On May 27, 1908, Harris and Henry sold 1,300,000 feet of lumber to Chicago Coal and Lumber Company. Two years later they sold their sawmill plant and all equipment to Lorenzo J. Boykin of Beaumont, subject to a mortgage to Chicago Coal and Lumber. Harris and Henry would continue to lease the plant from Boykin and continue to ship lumber to Chicago Coal and Lumber.
In 1908, Henry and Harris sold to Cass Lumber Company of San Augustine a 15-ton Standard gauge locomotive, more than a 100 tons of steel rails, and five standard gauge logging cars.
John R. Harris and Robert W. Henry are both listed in the 1910 Census as sawmill owners in Sabine County. They lived next door to each other in precinct six: Harris at residence 197, and Henry at residence 198.