| Alpha-Numeric Key: | NA-28 |
| Corporate Name: | Whiteman-Decker Lumber Company |
| Local Name: | Caro |
| Owner Name: | Saner-Whiteman Lumber Company. Whiteman- Decker Lumber Company. W. T. Whiteman, M. R. Schluter, R. M. Decker, M. W. Jones, and C. H. Morris, all of Winnsboro, Wood County. |
| Location: | Southeast end of Old Caro Loop at the Southern Pacific tracks (Wydeck) |
| County: | Nacogdoches |
| Years in Operation: | 14 years |
| Start Year: | 1904 |
| End Year: | 1917 |
| Decades: | 1900-1909,1910-1919 |
| Period of Operation: | November 1904 to at 1917 |
| Town: | Wydeck, 800 yards east of Caro |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | 1000 in 1907 |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Lumber, ties, timbers, and pilings
 Sawmill |
 Pine Sawmill |
Hardwood Sawmill |
Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | Steam
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | 50000: 1904 105000: 1915 |
| Capacity Comments: | 50,000 board feet daily in 1904 to 105,000 in 1906. 50,000 in 1915 |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | Circular initially, then double band by September 1906, including the sawmill and planer, but no kilns |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | The company road, Caro Northern, connected to the Texas and New Orleans at Caro |
| Historicial Development: | The Whiteman-Decker Lumber Company sawmill at Caro (Wydeck) began operations in November 1904 as a circular mill and later was rebuilt as a double band mill in 1906. Lumber to be finished was sent to the Whiteman-Decker planing mill at Mt. Enterprise, a distance of seventeen miles over the Caro Northern railroad. The firm was restructured as Saner-Whiteman Lumber Company in January 1908. The findings of the Interstate Commerce Commission's investigation into tap-lines in 1912 revealed that the Saner-Whiteman sawmill was located “at a point called Wydeck, about one-half mile from the juncture (of the Caro Northern and the Texas and New Orleans).” The Caro Northern Railway was the company's tap-line, incorporated on September 15, 1906. It extended sixteen miles from Caro to Mt. Enterprise in Rusk County. The mill at Wydeck was connected to the Texas and New Orleans at Caro over this tap-line.The mill was recorded in a list of sawmills in the Southern Industrial and Lumber Review to be cutting 105,000 board feet per day in September 1906. The Gulf Coast Lumberman, in W. T. Whiteman's obituary in 1951, noted that the sawmill at Caro began in 1908 and cut out in 1917. According to corporate records on file in the secretary of state's office in Austin, Whiteman-Decker, the original corporation, was composed of the following incorporators: W.T. Whiteman, M.R. Schluter, R.M. Decker, M.W. Jones, and C.H. Morris, “all of Winnsboro, Wood County.” Saner-Whiteman incorporators were W. G. Ragley, John C. Saner, W. T. Whiteman, M. W. Jones, R. E. Saner. Wydeck was the official point on the railroad where the sawmill was located. The residents of the company town were described by a Southern Industrial and Lumber Review editor in 1907 as “law abiding and church-going.” The workers were paid in cash every day, if possible, and the two commissaries only accepted cash. By 1907, the sawmill town had “modern” conveniences such as a skating rink, library, and a gun and shooting club.
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| Research Date: | LAT 08-08-93, JKG 12-15-93, MCJ 02-10-96 |
| Prepared By: | L. Turner, J. Gerland, M. Johnson |