Barton and Smith were reported by The Gilmer Mirror to have a sawmill at or near Rhonesboro after the turn of the century. The newspaper, in 1968, reported that the area “became such an important lumber shipping point that a thriving town grew up there including several stores, hotels, bank, cotton yard, gin, drug store, barber ship, livery stables, pottery, saloons, market and many other enterprises. After the timber was all cut the mills closed down and the railroad closed down too in 1917.”
This was probably the sawmill noted in the county records. D. F. Smith took a timber deed and a right-of-way from Ann Early on January 12, 1907, on land located about nine miles east of Gilmer. The timber was post oak.