Harry Thorson was one of the real pioneers and leaders of the bentonite industry.​

Born in Minnesota to Norwegian immigrant parents, he learned to speak English in school and became a teacher of business classes at a college in North Dakota. In 1922, he moved to Casper, Wyoming to work in the Salt Creek oil field.​

Thorson became interested in bentonite, a mineral having the ability to swell or retain large volumes of water. Wyoming contains over 70 percent of the world's supply.​

He observed that bentonite was used in oil well drilling and started a bentonite company near the Black Hills region of Wyoming. He acquired properties that others did not want and introduced field-drying techniques that he had learned as a farm boy in North Dakota. He forced himself into an industry that was the domain of large eastern corporations.​

Thorson originated the shipment of crushed bentonite in open-top hopper cars, which was instrumental in developing the export of large quantities of the mineral abroad.​

In the early 1960s, he invited Bethlehem Steel Corporation to become a partner in his business, Kaycee Bentonite Partnership, which prospered and enlarged its holdings and market share. New properties were discovered and mined, and modern mills were built in Casper and Worland for processing and shipping this remarkable mineral.​

The present-day firm, Black Hills Bentonite, is still in the family ownership.​

Thorson was one of the organizers of the Wyoming Mining Association and ably led bentonite producers in the halls of government and the offices of industry. As a tribute to his pioneering leadership, bentonite, once used as a lubricant for squeaky wagon wheels, is used worldwide in rotary oil well drilling, as an aid in iron ore production, in the pouring of hot molten metals, and in controlling industrial waste.​

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