Smith & Smith operated a multi-purpose steam mill (valued at $3,000) in Shelby County according to the 1870 Census, which manufactured lumber, ground grain, and ginned cotton. They employed three men for three months for a total wage of $1,200. Raw materials included $150 in logs, 5,200 bushels of corn worth $5,200, and hundreds of thousands of pounds of cotton. The mill produced 60,000 feet of lumber worth $600, $5,720 worth of cornmeal, and cotton seed worth $13,500 and ginned cotton worth $18,300.