For $750 in three notes, in 1922, Belser bought a planing mill on a mortgage to Greer-Downs. The sale included a 2 1/2 Mississippi Hall & Brown planing mill complete with belts, pulleys, knives grinder, cut-off rig with saw, fan, and blowpipes. Belser's mill was producing 20,000 feet a day in 1928.
In 1928 and 1930, J. D. Belser signed two mortgages with First National Bank that revealed he was running a sawmill and a cotton gin. In 1928, for $2,073.40, Belser mortgaged his boiler and engine, edger, trimmer, and sawring. In 1930, he once again mortgaged his equipment, including his complete sawmill rig.
It appears that the Belser sawmill was one of the countless casualties of the Great Depression.