The P. A. Ryan Lumber Company relocated from Tennessee to Lufkin. Ryan ran hardwood sawmills at Onalaska (sold to West), Pollok, and in 1916 at Lufkin. Boynton Lumber Company bought the Ryan mill at Lufkin in 1927 and sold it to B. L. Zeagler in 1931. The Lufkin News reported in 1916 that the Philip A. Ryan Lumber Company “cuts 40,000 feet a day and has a pay roll of $5,000 per month.” The Gulf Coast Lumberman noted in 1918 that it was a hardwood mill. A letter from E. L. Kurth to J. W. Link of the Kirby Lumber Company in November 1928 revealed that the Boynton mill at Lufkin had a 50,000 board feet per day capacity, and, although then temporarily shut down to conserve timber reserves, it was cutting both pine and hardwoods.
Zeagler Lumber company organized in 1931 and incorporated in 1938. The mill burned in 1942, and, as of October 1943, the new mill was still under construction while a small mill continued operations. Lee B. Zeagler was vice-president and general manager from 1938 to 1952. During the later years of operation, the mill normally cut about 20,000 feet of lumber daily, although it had a much larger capacity. The company was listed in Samson's Directory of Wood-Using and Related Industries in East Texas in 1957 and went out of business shortly thereafter.