In late 1950, Horton founded a consulting firm called United Engineers in Reno.

[2] He then worked as a vice president for three different corporations responsible for exploration, drilling and production of petroleum in eastern Nevada.

He later moved to Grand Junction, Colorado headquarters to work as the geology director of the entire Bendix Corporation.

[1] In 1981, Horton moved to Washington, D.C. after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan as the director of the U.S. Bureau of Mines.

[4] Horton returned to Reno to work as an associate dean for the Nevada Bureau of Mines.

[1] He was named director of the University of Nevada Reno Center for Strategic Materials Research and Policy Study.