The Humbird family was prominent in the lumber business from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, first in the mid-western United States, and then in the western United States and British Columbia. The son of Jacob Humbird, a builder of railroads in South America, John A. Humbird was a shareholder in the Victoria Lumber and Manufacturing Company of Chemainus, British Columbia. The company was incorporated in 1889 and dissolved in 1950.

Humbird, who had interests in several companies, formed various partnerships with Frederick Weyerhauser; this included partnerships involving the White River Lumber Company in Mason, Wisconsin, and the Sand Point Lumber Company in Sandpoint, Idaho, and the creation of the Clearwater Timber Company, also in Idaho, in 1900. The Sand Point Lumber Company was combined with the lumber holdings of Edward Rutledge in December 1900 to form the core of a new business, the Humbird Lumber Company.

Humbird's son Thomas J. Humbird became manager of the company in 1902 and was involved in the operations of several mills, including the Sand Point mill. His son, John A. Humbird (grandson of the original John A.), continued the family tradition and was one of the key figures in the development of the Seaboard Lumber Sales Company, Limited of British Columbia in 1935.