J. F. Ritter and W. H. Phillips were operating a sawmill in Panola County by 1903. That year they carried a mortgage for J. A. Phillips in the amount of $3,000 for the sawmill, a Henderson engine, a 60-horsepower Chamber & Taylor boiler, and edger, and four mules.
Phillips granted a mortgage on the sawmill to a W. R. Samples on October 31, 1904, for $1,500.
Phillips apparently stayed in some kind of milling business, for N. G. Ganelson, J. A. Phillips, and N. G. Birdwell were operating steam machinery in Panola County in 1905. On May 19 of that year they mortgaged for an Erie City boiler and a 9-inch by 16-inch Huntsville steam engine, pledging the equipment and their crops and livestock. They probably were ginning cotton and perhaps milling some lumber.