A former lumber mill worker clears stumps from an eight-acre field in Boundary County in October 1939. "Many of those dependent on the mill have turned to small stump farming and many have been forced on relief," after mills in North Idaho such as the Humbird Lumber Co. shut down in 1930, according to descriptions from other photos in this collection.
August 7, 2022
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Idaho’s lumber industry is more consolidated than ever, and making billions in sales
From early logging to now, the forest products industry has gone through major changes
In Idaho’s nearly 150 years of history with the lumber industry, the trade has transformed from a wide scattering of communities built and centered around logging and mills, to the more consolidated forestry seen today. After the forests around the Great Lakes were depleted in the early 1900s, there were two places for the timber industry to turn for materials needed for a swiftly growing America: the South and the Pacific Northwest.