What David Marston (D.M.) Clough lacked in education and polish he made up for in common sense and drive, serving as Minnesota's thirteenth governor during his rise from lumberman to lumber baron.
D.M. Clough was born on December 27, 1846, in Lyme, New Hampshire. He was the fourth of fourteen children. His parents were Welsh farmers who resettled in 1857 in Spencer Brook, Minnesota, near the Rum River. Clough helped his family earn a living from the land by raising crops and cutting timber. His education was limited because he worked almost year-round from an early age.
Clough started a logging business, Clough Brothers, with his brother, Gilbert, in 1870. He married schoolteacher Adelaide (Addie) Barton in Spencer Brook in 1867, and they moved to Minneapolis in 1872 to expand the logging business. In Minneapolis, Clough built a sawmill for the logs he and his brother were harvesting.
A lifelong Republican, Clough was elected to the Minneapolis City Council in 1883 and then to the state senate in 1886. From the senate, he advanced to the office of lieutenant governor in 1892 under Republican Governor Knute Nelson. When Nelson resigned to run for a seat in the US Senate, Clough became governor of Minnesota. He held that position from January 31, 1895, to January 2, 1899.
During Clough's first administration, voters ratified significant amendments to the state constitution, including those establishing a Board of Pardons, withdrawing the right of aliens to vote, and authorizing municipalities to frame "home rule" charters. During his second term as governor, which he won narrowly in 1896, the legislature raised taxes on several private industries and enacted child labor laws.
Clough decided not to run for reelection in 1898. Instead, he supported successful candidate John Lind against his own party's candidate, William H. Eustis.
In 1900, railroad magnate James J. Hill urged Clough to invest in lumber in Washington state. Clough moved to Everett, Washington, and championed the interests of mill owners there until his death of heart disease on August 27, 1924, at age seventy-seven.
In 1870, Clough starts his own logging business, Clough Brothers, with his brother, Gilbert, and sets himself up for financial and political success.