The milling company was in operation as early as 1910 and processed tailings (waste material) from area mines. A newspaper article from that time stated that the Jesse Milling Co. was handling tailings from the old Express Mine in Alba and also had in reserve the old tailing pile from the Julius S. Mine.

The tailings were being reprocessed in hopes of recovering more ore from the waste. At the time, the tailings were showing 2 1/2 percent ore and the company predicted recovering 3.8 percent in the future.

The primary shareholders of the Jesse Milling Co. were Luther and Elizabeth McGehee, of Joplin, and Charles W. Jesse, of Purcell.

In 1914, old mining tracks in the Neck City area were reopened as they still held rich deposits of lead and zinc and by 1918 the Tri-City mining area was doing well, with the largest producer being the Sponable Mining Co., of Alba. The Jesse Milling Co. operated quite extensively most of that year, continuing to mill the tailings from the old workings.

There were numerous mines in the Neck City area with colorful names such as the Rubber Neck Mine, Clear Jack Mine, Neck City Group, Good Shepard Mine, Little Elm Mine, Big Kate Mine, Quick Seven Mine, Catherine C. Mine, Chapman Long Acre Mine, Century Lead Mine, Lucky Tiger, 1909 Mine and the Black Hawk Mine, just to name a few.