R. M. Brooks operated a lumber mill and shingle machine in Houston County after 1900. In 1907, he contracted with Bob Rains to move the mill and machine to Rains' property about nine miles south of Crockett. Rains, in return for one-half of the profits, would deliver timber to the mill and bear one-half the cost of hauling and loading product.
This mill passed into the hands of R. C. Pond of the Houston County Lumber Company by 1909. Pond organized the Houston County Lumber Company. In 1909, he sold “sufficient lumber manufactured by Houston County Lumber Company, Inc., wholly owned by R. C. Pond, said timber to be manufactured at location nine miles south of Crockett.”