The Palmetto Lumber Company, a subsidiary of Ford-Isbell, was formed in late 1901 by A.C. Ford and T.P. Isbell of the recently organized lumber retail firm of Ford and Isbell, Ft. Worth, with a capital stock of $50,000. Both men were then only twenty-eight years old. They purchased ten thousand acres in San Jacinto County, and built their mill near Oakhurst, on the Trinity Valley Southern railroad, a few miles east of the International and Great Northern road at Dodge. By 1909, Ford handled almost all manufacturing at Oakhurst and Isbell the marketing of ‘Palmetto Finish.' Ford also purchased the adjoining mill of Columbia Lumber Company in 1909, acquiring Columbia's tapline, the Trinity Valley Southern Railroad in his own name. Ford-Isbell of Fort Worth marketed products of the Palmetto company, with the name of “Palmetto Finish.” Construction of Oakhurst mill began in late 1901 on the Trinity Valley Southern RR, a few miles east of the I&GN at Dodge. The mill was 75,000 foot capacity mill with no log pond. "Palmetto Finish" was its advertising slogan to portray superior excellence in grain of wood.
Sometime before 1928, the Sabine Lumber Company took over Palmetto Lumber sales and marketed its product under the manufacturing name of Oakhurst Lumber Company. In 1928, the band sawmill was cutting 100,000 feet daily. Timber was estimated at ten years in 1901. The company used a logging tram of standard gauge. Lufkin Foundry & Machinery technical drawings indicate that Palmetto Lumber at Oakhurst was planning on elevating its sawmill and installing hog conveyors. Eventually, the holding company for both Palmetto and Texas Long Leaf, the Sabine Lumber Company of Missouri, reorganized the manufacturing plant at Oakhurst under the name of Texas Long Leaf by 1934. A company letterhead dated June 29, 1935, lists “mills located at Trinity, Texas, New Willard, Texas, Oakhurst, Texas.”