In 1948 when Daddy left the mill to go into the iron ore mining business he gave Halbert Mill Company to Charles and me. Charles had worked some at the mill during his growing up years after school and during the summer, so he knew a little bit about what was needed to be done to make it all run. The mill was located across from the Halbert home in Dialville and all the equipment was run off line shafts and pulleys.

In 1950 we got out of the lumber planing and went strictly into veneer. We also moved from the original mill site and built a new mill at the location which is now M&H. We bought a used lathe with a back roll and a new stitcher top machine as we called it. Some of the other machinery we brought from the old mill. We cut veneer from cottonwood logs because they could be de-barked without steaming. At that time cottonwood was rather plentiful and we had no trouble getting all we needed. Charles would buy stands of cottonwood from many places and have it hauled in to the mill. He didn’t weigh the logs like they do now, but bought them by measuring the logs to determine the board feet in each log. We used the Doyle Scale log sticks and had a book of charts to refer to for complex calculations.

The veneer was cut to sizes to make tomato lugs and fruit and vegetable hampers. Then the veneer was counted with so many to the bundle and tied with wire for shipping. We made the tops to go on the finished crates. The tops were made of veneer strips (4 or 5) with lumber cleats on either end. These were stitched with wire and stacked and then tied for shipping. Our biggest customers were in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and others in the Rio Grande Valley in Colorado. We also had some local tomato customers in Cherokee County.

We had a great business until about 1960 when corrugated boxes became the most economical way to ship fruit and vegetables. Things began to really look bad for the veneer business. About this time, Bob Moore, a salesman that sold us wire for the stitcher and for tying approached Charles about helping him to come up with a way to make a brick cube that would be stable enough to ship brick in rail cars. Bob, with Acme Steel, was selling the strap that up to now had been used for baling cotton.

We all know the rest of the story. Bob and Charles designed a cube that used the veneer to form a void in the cube. This allowed forklifts to lift the brick without need for an expensive pallet. Charles spent many hours and trips with Bob working on this and finally the railroad accepted their design. We were back in the veneer business again!

We sold our first veneer to Acme Brick for use in a brick cube in 1962. Later Acme Brick wanted us to sell paper to ship mixed loads to their plants so that they could get all their brick cube-packaging supplies from one location. “Couldn’t beat the paper boys so we joined them.” We had a huge shed across from Mother and Daddy’s house where we stored paper and veneer.

We brought in trucks and railcars of paper to sell with the brick veneer. In 1969 Charles leased the manufacturing operation to Rayburn McCown with the understanding it would be paid for in 10 years. Also, that Rayburn would continue to supply us with veneer. The name of course became M&H (McCown & Halbert) and Charles and I kept the name Halbert Mill since we were already established under this name and it was to be used for selling to the brick companies.

In 1972 we built the first part of our new Dialville warehouse, as we now know it. It was across from M&H so they could deliver the veneer all day long. It has been added to many times since then.

Charles died in 1977 and he made me promise to keep the business if I could until Martha and Barry could come home to take over. I had wonderful friends who were such a vital part of the business and ran it until I could get my feet on the ground so to speak. George and Sue Peterson and Allen Yarbrough were already here and George knew all about everything since he had worked with Charles since 1966. Allen had been here since 1972 and before that had worked at the old mill as a kid as had Bill Sherman. Bill came to work full time in 1979. Sue was our bookkeeper, George managed our operations, and Allen and Bill drove trucks to deliver our packaging supplies to brick plants.

Martha and Barry came home in 1986 to get us really moving. Who would have ever dreamed in 1960 when corrugated cartons and paper was almost our undoing that today it would keep us going? We purchased our first paper converting equipment in 1988 and have been making brick paper ever since.