In 1880, the Wm. T. McAfee sawmill was one of the largest, if not the largest, lumber manufacturing operations in northeast Texas, rivaling the operations of Orange and Beaumont. It was enumerated in Precinct 5 in the Census of that year. It had a capital value of $20,000. It employed thirty-five men at peak production and thirty men normally. They were paid $1.25 per day for unskilled labor and $3.00 for skilled, working eleven-hour shifts in the summer and ten-hour shifts in the winter. McAfee paid $10,000 in total for wages. From $38,000 in supplies and sawlogs, the sawmill manufactured 7,000,000 feet of lumber worth $60,000 in eight months of fulltime operations.