The James Coltharp multi-purpose set of four mills, according to the Census of 1860, manufactured lumber and ground meal and flour. The operation was valued at $12,000, with $8000 in lumber manufactures and $4000 in grist milling. In twelve months of operation, Coltharp paid five men at the sawmill a total of $550 and four men in the grist mills $450. Raw materials including $500 in sawlogs, 6000 bushels of corn, and 500 bushels of wheat. Lumber sawing produced 250,000 feet valued at $5,000. Milling produced 5000 bushels of cornmeal at a value of $5,000, and 500 bushels of wheat flour valued at $750.
Dr. Woldert, according to Dr. Woldert, who was raised in Tyler from the age of four in 1849, believed the mills were “abandoned soon” after the end of the Civil War.