In the first half of the 20th century, the lumber industry dominated Central Oregon's economy. By 1915, two competing companies had built large sawmills south of Bend. The combined output of the Shevlin-Hixon and Brooks-Scanlon mills made Bend one of the largest lumber producing towns in the world. In 1924, the Shevlin-Hixon mill alone processed of lumber. There were at least eight lumber mills in the Prineville areas as well. In the early 1930s, Sam Johnson opened a lumber mill in Sisters, the first of six Central Oregon mills the Johnson family owned over the years.