FINALLY!  They've arrived! The printer has delivered our copies of "Can't Never Could Do Anything", Jim Petersen's biography of Oregon lumberman, Milt Herbert.  This is a wonderful little book that's well worth reading and sharing with friends.  

"Can't Never Could Do Anything" is the story of Milton "Milt" Herbert, a small town boy from Elmira, Oregon. On a hunch - and because he needs a job - he gets into the saw milling business when he is just 19 years old.

In search of cheaper timber and new opportunity, he heads for California with his young wife and baby daughter, but never gets further than Canyonville in the summer of 1948. For a time, the Herbert's live in a tent. There's no money for a refrigerator, so Milt digs a hole in the ground behind the tent and that's where they store their food. Later, Milt builds a small house next to the mill. It has one bedroom and a kitchen, but no electricity or running water. Those unaffordable niceties will come later. There will be no home mortgage - ever.

In 1962, Milt expands. He moves the mill to its present location near Riddle, Oregon. Despite enormous odds and the never-ending turmoil that is standard fare in the region's timber industry - Herbert Lumber becomes one of the Pacific Northwest's most successful and admired lumber companies. Others embrace technology, but Milt chooses to embrace his workers. The industry's pace quickens, but Milt maintains his slow but steady pace. Above all else, he is very comfortable in his own skin.

In 1953, Milt becomes the youngest founding member of the South Umpqua State Bank Board of Directors. Although his investment pays him well over the years, his real reason for getting involved is to make sure his employees have access to a reliable, locally-owned bank where they can borrow and save. Most regional banks of that era would not cash paychecks issued by small mills. Today, the renamed Umpqua Bank is Oregon's largest homegrown bank, with 8.5 billion in assets and 150 branches in three states. Its CEO credits Milt for the bank's enormous success.

This is a great story about a quiet but determined man who never met a stranger and always treated his employees and colleagues like family. Of his singular success he says, "Our customers became our friends and our friends became our customers." Learn what you can from this humble man who was never afraid to don a pair of work gloves, and never asked anyone to do a job he wouldn't do himself.

CLICK ON THE "PDF" BELOW TO READ THE FOREWORD FOR "CAN'T NEVER COULD DO ANYTHING"

Can't Never Could Do Anything Introduction

TO ORDER YOUR COPY OF "CAN'T NEVER COULD DO ANYTHING" ($19.95 plus shipping & handling) EMAIL: jim@evergreenmagazine.com