Eva and Gottfried Finger immigrated to the United States from Germany and gave birth to Herman in Brookfield, Wisconsin on 13 April 1856.
In 1878, Herman bought a farm in Waupaca County and some land in Northern Minnesota, and in 1881 he became the foreman of Sherry Lumber Company in Vesper, Wisconsin.
By 1907, Finger and the Canadian Parliament convinced the railway to continue building north, and by 1910, a line was completed that connected the mill to Hudson Bay Junction, Saskatchewan.
Between 1906 and 1910, the company had acquired 194 square miles (500 km2) of timber berths, and in October 1910, they began building their first mill.
Fingerville was absorbed into The Pas, and a train station was built for the town on the Canadian Northern Rail line.
The 1910s were the best years for the company due to a depletion of the forests of Wisconsin and Minnesota leading to increased lumber demand from the US.