Frank L. Carroll, his brother George W. Carroll, John C. Ward, and John N. Gilbert (of the Long and Company) chartered the Beaumont Lumber Company in March 1877. Acquiring the W. D. Black sawmill in Orange, the Company dismantled it, moved it to Beaumont, and reassembled it as the first of its mills; it had a daily capacity of 25,000 feet. Next to the Black sawmill, the Company erected a double-circular sawmill purchased from E. P. Allis and Company of Milwaukee; it could cut 40,000 feet daily. By 1893, the band saw could cut 65,000 feet daily and the pony circular saw was cutting 20,000 feet daily. Eventually the Carrolls and Gilbert forced Ward out of company affairs and W. A. Fletcher, their brother-in-law became a partner with them. Acquiring land on the Neches River near the Beaumont dock area, two mills were built on the fifty acres. The 1880 Census recorded a d capitalization of $35,000. An average of thirty-five men and six boys worked eleven hours daily for a skilled wage of $3.00 and unskilled of $1.50. The annual wage was $18,000. Raw materials included $50,000 worth of saw logs and $2,200 in mill supplies. Ten million board feet and two million shingles were produced for a value of $78,000. Logs were floated on the Neches and its tributaries; Beaumont did most of its own logging. Longleaf average grade came from Camp 3 at Buna (fifty-two miles) and Camp 5 at Kirbyville (thirty-five miles) by the company tram, the Orange & Northwestern. The planing mill had a sizer, five matchers, and a moulder. The steam-operated dry kilns operated in a two-room brick building; it had a 25,000 foot capacity. Kirby Lumber Company acquired the plant, which it named Mill C. During the first week of June 1902, fire destroyed the saw and planing mills, the dry sheds and kilns, and all the stacked lumber. The mill was not rebuilt.