D. C. Cariker of Paxton began his business on January 25, 1906, by mortgaging from O W.Watson a Fisher and Davis sawmill that Watson had purchased from the J. C. Hill Lumber Company. Mr. Hill may have been in the milling industry at that time at Neuville. The following August, Cariker mortgaged an edger from Dilley & Son. In March 1907, Cariker had to mortgage his one-half of his sawmill and all its fixtures to the First National Bank at Center. By the following month, the struggling Cariker mortgaged both mules and his logging wagon to Lem Hall.