forestry products industries. An early sawmill town, Caryville's location was dictated by the presence of the Choctawhatchee River, which was crossed in Caryville by the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad in 1882 (Later to become L&N Railroad). The most accepted matter of Caryville's name, and the one listed in Allen Morris, The Florida Handbook, is that the name came from R.M. Cary, who was secretary to the P. and A. Railroad Company. The area was originally called Half Moon Bluff. Some of the construction material for the new railroad was unloaded from steamships coming in from Pensacola at this location. The railroad had hardly got started before some land sales were recorded in the vicinity. On February 24, 1882, Thomas Hannah of Point Washington sold several lots totaling 121 acres of Half Moon Bluff to Edwards, Brooks and Company of Opelika, Alabama. Two years latter, after the place had been named Caryville, W. L. Whitlick of Pensacola was operating what may have been the first sawmill in the community. Some logging operation may have been in progress before the coming of the railroad. The logs were consigned to the river, bearing the name and brand of Strickland and Wesley of Point Washington. The brand was a circle caw bearing 12 teeth. The logs were floated down stream to the mouth of the Choctawhatchee where they were caught up in a boom and towed to nearby sawmills. Big scale timber operations began with the establishment of Sanford Lumber Company at Caryville well before the end of the 19th century. By 1903 that lumber company was furnishing employment for about 400 "hands" and had capacity of 100,000 board feet of lumber per day. Electricity came to Caryville in 1903. The holdings of Sanford Lumber Company were acquired by Henderson-Waits Lumber Company in 1912. Corporation officers were Glover G. Waits, president, Fred Henderson, vice president and Barney M Henderson, secretary- treasurer; Directors were Pox Henderson, James C. Waits and J. D. Henderson, Jr. By 1925, Henderson-Waits had acquired about 125,000 acres of land, including a large acreage, bought from Foshee Lumber Company, which had announced plans to build a sawmill at Chipley. At the height of the milling operation, logs were hauled in by steam locomotive with train tracks laid as far south as Ebro for this purpose. The Henderson-Waits holdings including the Caryville mill, were sold late in 1925 to Brown-Florida Lumber Company,