The Christopher Columbus Murray sawmill was listed in Subdivision 2 for Walker County in the 1880 Census. The Census recorded the d capital value of the facility at $5,000. Murray employed twenty men. They were paid $.75 to $2.00 daily for eight-hour shifts in the winter and ten-hour shifts in the summer. Murray paid out a total of $2,000 in wages for twelve half-time months of operations. From $5,500 worth of sawlogs and supplies, the facility manufactured 1,000,000 feet of lumber for a value of $9,000. C. C. Murray, a thirty-eight year old native of Texas, was enumerated at residence 135, Precinct 2, as a “sawmill proprietor.” He was the ninth child of Walker County sawmiller Walter Murray.
The woods crews did their logging along the Trinity River.
A chattel mortgage filed in the county registers reveals that the steam sawmill was located “about 14 miles northwest of Huntsville near the Midway Road. . .”. Another mortgage, filed July 24, 1882, revealed that J. W. Weatherly and J. W. Pool had taken the mill: they contracted the “entire interest in all lumber cut by us . . . same mill that was owned by C. C. Murray. . .”.