Although mining operations were no longer profitable in Mount Molloy, an alternative source of income existed in timber. The rise of sawmilling in the Cairns region was part of the evolution of the industry in Queensland over time. Although there was timbergetting in the far north from the 1870s, South East Queensland's (especially Maryborough's) sawmills supplied a substantial portion of central and north Queensland's sawn timber needs until sawmilling in the Cairns district from the 1880s reduced dependence on the south. By 1888 there were three sawmills in the Cairns district, including the Union Saw and Planing Mills at Stratford (E Martin and Son), and a steam powered sawmill was also established at Carrington in 1889.
