(Note: The following is part of a series of articles looking at the history and evolution of agriculture in Georgia and Bulloch County.) With the completion of railroads throughout the Wiregrass and the establishment of many smaller portable steam-powered sawmills, it was no longer necessary to float trees downstream to be milled. In 1893, D.P. Averitt Sr. moved to Statesboro from the Guyton area and established a large sawmill some three miles west of Statesboro. He then opened a planing mill within Statesboro’s city limits.