A sawmill firm of Butler & Thomas contracted with Vaughan Lumber Company in 1899 to sell it its milled lumber. This mill was probably that of W. W. Thomas. W. W. Butler, according to Panola County records, owned a sawmill in Panola County during the year 1900. That year he contracted with a San Antonio lumber company to sell it his milled lumber. Butler sold the sawmill to H. D. Pate, H. C. Butler, and J. A. Pate for $3,000. The Panola County record notes that the mill was located about seven miles from Carthage, which possibly may have been present-day Clayton. Equipment included a drugstore, the sawmill, an edger, two log wagons, six yoke of oxen, two miles of tram road, and two cars, plus 175,000 feet of lumber at the mill.
L. T. Falwell, according to the Panola County records, mortgaged with Pate Butler & Co. for sawmill machinery outfit on August 22, 1903, in the amount of $213. Equipment included the a sawframe, carriage and track, and a 60-inch saw.