J. A. Hays & Webb operated a sawmill near Phelps in the years surrounding 1890. On October 17, 1890, J. A. Hays sold to Carson, Sewall Co. and Halff & Neubauer Bros of Houston to pay for the debts of Hays and Webb Lumber Company to Carson et al ($6,110) and Halff & Neubauer ($4147). Hays and Webb surrendered 232 acres of land, Hays' half-interest in the store house at Dodge, the sawmill on J. M. Smithers land, which Hays had contracted to buy, two engines and boilers, one planer, one edger, one trimmer, one saw frame and fixtures, forty feet of shafting, four tram cars, two slip-tongue carts, three wagons, 3/4 mile of tram road, thirty oxen, one tram engine, six tram cars, and the sawmill building.
On February 3, 1891, Ben Campbell, trustee for J. A. Hays, sold most of the above property at the court house for a total of $425 to John T. Smithers, a member of Smithers, Beall & Co.