Smith Lumber Company operated a sawmill at Carthage in 1928, manufacturing lumber, shingles, and timbers. The directory from 1928 reported its daily cutting capacity was 40,000 feet.
The People, Places & Happenings by Mildred Cariker Pinkston of Center noted the Tol T. (Tolt) Smith lumber mill at Center, using information from the August 7, 1929, issue of The Champion. According to the newspaper, that Tolt Smith's lumber company was one of the largest and successful businesses at Center. The sawmill along with its planers could mill 75,000 feet of lumber daily; normal production was about a million board feet a month. Smith had a large fleet of trucks to haul his lumber. The Champion reported that the the J. T. Harris lumber yard was located in “the East End” of Center. . . . near the Center Ice & Electric Co, the Tol T Smith planer and lumber yard and the Morgan-Smith planer, lumber yard, and sawmill.