In 1905 Emerson Lumber was built by J.S. Emerson on leased waterfront property in Port Moody east of the Canadian Pacific Lumber Company's Port Moody mill. The mill office was located near Rocky Point Park in Port Moody and cut western red cedar lumber and shingles exclusively.

On June 11, 1908 a half share in the mill was purchased by Perry Douglas Roe and Robert Abernathy for $250,000. It was incorporated on July 27, 1908 as the Emerson Lumber Company Limited.

On October 1st, 1912 the mill was purchased by Robert Thurston and Aird Flavelle and renamed the Thurston-Flavelle Mill. The first 3 months were profitable but business slowed down and the mill had to shut down for 3 months over Christmas.

On May 23, 1913 The Western Call newspaper reported that Thurston-Flavelle mainly handled cedar for the eastern market.

On September 30th of the same year The Bank of Montreal demanded immediate repayment of their loan after auditors disclosed that the amount provided to the bank to establish credit was far from that of Thurston-Flavelle's balance sheets.

In 1914 Thurston-Flavelle was able to obtain a 4 month extension from BMO after they promised to reduce their loan by 50% in that time frame. The United States Government had eliminated their tariffs against Canadian cedar shingles.

In 1955 the mill was sold to Canadian Collieries Ltd. but was still called Flavelle Cedar. Weldwood of Canada Ltd. purchased the mill in 1964 and Flavelle Cedar became a division of Weldwood of Canada. It had 350 employees. In 1966 the production of shingles and shakes was discontinued. The mill changed hands again in 1995 when International Forest Products (Interfor) bought Weldwood of Canada Ltd. and Flavelle Cedar. The mill was modernized in 1995 with a major rebuild. In 1998 Flavelle Cedar closed but was reopened in 2000 when it was purchased by Mill and Timber. Currently (2009) the mill has approximately 50 employees as is still known as Favelle Cedar.