Gustaf "Gus" M. Carlson was born in Hibbing, Minnesota, August 21, 1907, the son of Gustaf "Gust" and Anna J. Carlson, Swedish immigrants. He graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Mines and Metallurgy in 1931 as a mining engineer. The following year he got a masters degree in geology from the same school. He moved to Helena, Montana, where his father and brother Lars were officers of the Montana-Idaho Mines Company and its successor the Montana Consolidated Mines Corporation. The companies owned the Spring Hill Mine, south of Helena, and the East Pacific Mine, near Winston, among others. When the Spring Hill closed at the beginning of World War II, Gus Carlson enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served from 1942 to 1946 in Virginia and Hawaii. Gus Carlson later returned to Helena, where he was a specialist in diamond drill exploration. He did survey work at many mines around the state. Gus Carlson married Dorothy Clements in 1964. He died in Helena in the summer of 1996. Gust Carlson, Sr. was born in Dalsland, Sweden September 17, 1869. He settled in Hibbing, Minnesota, in 1893. He founded the Carlson Exploration Company there in 1903. He helped develop mining claims around the west, including a zinc mine in Wallace, Idaho, and the Spring Hill Mine near Helena. He was knighted by King Gustaf V of Sweden in 1923 in recognition of his prominence in Swedish American affairs. His wife was Hanna Forsman and they had three sons and two daughters. Gust Carlson died November 28, 1956, on a return trip to Duluth from Helena.