Before 1840, the area of Wiess Bluff was known as Grant Bluff. Simon Wiess, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, was the leading commercial factor at the Bluff for thirty years. Before the War, Wiess Bluff was connected by a twice-a-week-stage route to San Augustine. Weiss began manufacturing lumber along the Neches River about 1842. According to W. T. Block, this was an adz sawmill, also known as a “peck” mill because of its multiple adzes attached to a wheel for squaring small trees. This kind of mill was normally powered by a mule or ox. The mill may have been converted later to steam.