Sidney C. Olive and John Abraham Sternenberg, excited by the railroad moving through Hardin County, relocated their milling intersts their in July 1881. They erected a circular mill of 40,000 board feet per day capacity, and were cutting their first bill of lumber in October the same year. Business prospered and by 1889 the mill’s capacity was increased to 65,000 board feet per day. The sawmill burned in 1904 and was rebuilt as a band mill having a 100,000 feet per day capacity. Several changes in management were made in the early 1900s, but the mill continued to prosper until the timber supply was exhausted in 1912.

The town became known as Olive, but it is listed as Sunset in an 1884 railroad directory. The company town of Olive had a brass band, saloon, company store, and segregated churches and schools. It was reported that the saloon and store kept regular hours, both closing at 6:00 P.M. The town’s population numbers were 500 in 1889; 976 in 1900; and 1200 in 1905.

The demand for the sawblades seemed insatiable; by 1905, the sawmill’s daily capacity reached 100,000 feet of lumber.

The steam logging tram road was known as the Olive & Sternenberg Timber Railroad Company. The company supported its logging operation with, at first, five miles of company tram roads, a locomotive, and five flat cars. By 1904, the tram road stretched eight miles into the timber.