Born in 1860, Humphreys made successive fortunes in the lumber, mining, and petroleum industries. He was active in mining at Creede, Colorado, ca. 1900, and subsequently turned to oil exploration, opening important oil fields in Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. The wealth he accumulated from these activities underwrote he and his family's widespread philanthropic activities in Colorado and elsewhere. His two sons, Ira Boyd and Albert Edmund, Jr., pursued careers in oil exploration and mining as well. The spiral concentrator, invented by I.B. Humphreys, was first used by the Humphreys Gold Corporation, and later by the Humphreys Engineering Company, which also manufactured and sold the product internationally. A.E. Humphreys, Jr., married Ruth Boettcher, combining two of the largest fortunes compiled by early-day pioneers in Colorado.