McSlauer and McAdams are alternative readings of the poor handwriting by the enumerator in the Census of 1870 about this sawmill.
W. T. Block believes that the owner was John McAdams, Jr., because his research into Walker County history does not reveal a McSlauer, while it is well known that John McAdams, Jr., and and Hiram McAdams had been operating sawmills and cotton gins before 1870. John McAdams, Jr. (1815-1892), served in the Texas Revolution, and later became a small landowner with six slaves by 1860. Although primarily a farmer of cotton and corn, he eventually went into the lumber and cotton milling business. McAdams supported local education by donating lumber and materials to at least two schools in the area.
This sawmill operation, according to the 1870 Census Products of Industry Schedule, was d to be a capital investment of $2,000. Investments in raw materials included $510 in 1,620 pine logs, $1,200 in 300 cords of wood for fuel, $10 worth of files, and ten gallons of oil worth $10. Nine men and one woman were paid $908 for four months of operations. The sawmill manufactured 560,000 feet of lumber valued at $7,900.