November 2026

Elsewhere in this issue you’ll read an article on the passing of 96-year-old Jim Neiman, whose family started sawmilling in the Black Hills National Forest in the mid-1930s. It was Jim who would put Neiman Sawmills of Hulett, Wyoming on the sawmill map and lead it into the modern era (the modern era being the 1970s).

I didn’t know Jim Neiman very well, except for two days, very cold ones, on January 4-5, 1995.

I had flown into Rapid City, SD and driven over to Hulett in anticipation of meeting with not Jim, but his son, Jimmy, whom I was to interview for an article that would name him this magazine’s 1995 Man of the Year.

Indeed on January 4 I convened with Jimmy, as well as his managers, and toured the mill, known as Devils Tower Forest Products. Sitting in was Jimmy’s dad Jim Neiman, and before the day was done Jim had invited me to ride along with him the next day and take in the breathtaking, snow-laden Black Hills National Forest.

Jim didn’t disappoint with his outgoing personality and his recollections of the early years, such as when his sawmill burned down on August 17, 1961.

Jim recalled that he was still deeply in debt because of the construction and expenses from that mill, which was now in ashes. He called his banker and told him he was going to build another sawmill. The banker asked him how he was going to do that. Jim said, “You’re going to loan me the money.” The banker said he wasn’t sure about that and Jim responded, “Well, make up your mind. Do we call it quits now or do I get a chance to pay you back?”

A mill in Montana was selling out and Jim planned to go and purchase some equipment. He drove all night to the sale, carrying $7,000 in borrowed cash from the banker. Jim didn’t have long to look over the equipment but quickly bought an end trimmer at auction. He kept buying.

Jim spent $17,500, and the next morning woke up the banker with a phone call. The banker asked, “How we doing?” Jim replied, “Too damn good. So far I’ve spent $17,500.” The banker responded, “Sounds like you’re building a sawmill.”

Jim said the purchased equipment was only part of it, now it had to be torn down and transported to Hulett and set back up. “We’ve just started,” Jim said. The banker said, “Jim, go ahead and do what you have to do. If we’re going to sawmill, let’s get with it.”

Jim took me to a restaurant where I ate my first buffalo hamburger, to Devils Tower monument, through the Black Hills National Forest as he talked about Custer’s expedition through the Black Hills in 1874 (and later gave me a copy of the photographic book, “Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine,” which was not only about Custer’s march but also about the evolution of forest ecology in the Black Hills). We rode through the family’s 77 Ranch and cow-calf operation south of Hulett. We visited David Arnio’s logging job near Sundance.

Did I mention a visit to his daughter Connie’s CNL Clothier store in Hulett, which manufactured historic clothing and had provided cowboy slickers for sev- eral movies including “City Slickers” with Billy Crystal and Jack Palance? Bet- ter yet, they gave me a slicker, and I gave it to a close friend back home in Mont- gomery who had a small stable. She about fainted with joy at the sight of it.

Thanks for the memories, Jim.