My wife Wanda and I are the owners and founders of the Irion Lumber Company. Our lumber company is the outgrowth of a custom furniture business I started in 1977, called Irion Company-Furnituremakers.

Mark Elston followed his father into the timber industry back when business was booming. "When I started, you could really mess things up and still make good money," he said. "You can't do that ...

"When I started, you could really mess things up and still make good money," he said. "You can't do that anymore." Elston runs a lumber mill in Tillamook, Ore., for Hampton Affiliates. The company has ...