David Marston Clough was an American politician. He served in the Minnesota State Senate from January 1887 to January 1893. He served as the state's Lt. Governor January 4, 1893 to January 31, 1895. He was the 13th Governor of Minnesota

Governor of Minnesota

The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...

 from January 31, 1895 to January 2, 1899. He was a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

.

Born in 1846 in Lyme, New Hampshire

Lyme, New Hampshire

Lyme is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,716 at the 2010 census. Lyme is home to the Chaffee Natural Area. The Dartmouth Skiway is in the eastern part of town, near the village of Lyme Center...

, the fourth of fourteen children of New England farmers who resettled near the Rum River

Rum River

The Rum River is a slow, meandering channel that connects Minnesota's Mille Lacs Lake with the Mississippi River. It runs for through the farming communities of Onamia, Milaca, Princeton, Cambridge, and Isanti before ending at the Twin Cities suburb of Anoka, roughly 20 miles northwest of downtown...

, David Clough helped his family eke out a scanty living from the land by raising crops and cutting timber. His boyhood experiences would serve him well as both an entrepreneur and public servant in a state where agriculture and lumber dominated the economy.

Clough's first business venture, a logging operation he founded at 20, lifted him from poverty and launched him on a path toward wealth and political prominence. He moved to Minneapolis in 1872 and was elected to the city council eleven years later and then to the Minnesota Senate

Minnesota Senate

The Minnesota Senate is the upper house in the Minnesota Legislature. There are 67 members, half as many as are in the Minnesota House of Representatives. In terms of membership, it is the largest upper house of any state legislature. Each Senate district in the state includes an A and B House...

. From the senate, he advanced to the office of lieutenant governor under Republican Knute Nelson

Knute Nelson

Knute Nelson was an Norwegian American politician. A Republican, he served in the Wisconsin Legislature and Minnesota Legislature, in the U.S. House of Representatives, as the 12th Governor of Minnesota, and as a U.S...

, whose election to the U.S. Senate moved Clough into the governor's office.

Clough's first administration was notable for the ratification of significant amendments to the state constitution

Minnesota Constitution

The Constitution of the State of Minnesota, USA was initially approved by the residents of Minnesota Territory in a special election held on October 13, 1857, and was ratified by the United States Senate on May 11, 1858, marking the admittance of Minnesota to the Union...

, including those establishing the Minnesota Board of Pardons

Minnesota Board of Pardons

The Minnesota Board of Pardons is the pardon board of the state of Minnesota. The Board of Pardons consists of the Governor of Minnesota, the chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, and Minnesota Attorney General...

, withdrawing the right of aliens to vote, and authorizing municipalities to frame "home rule" charters. During his second term, narrowly won in 1896, the legislature raised taxes on several private industries and enacted child-labor laws

Child labor laws in the United States

Child labor laws in the United States include numerous statutes and rules regulating the employment of minors. According to the United States Department of Labor, child labor laws affect those under the age of 18 in a variety of occupations....

.

In 1900 the redoubtable railroad magnate James J. Hill

James J. Hill

James Jerome Hill , was a Canadian-American railroad executive. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest...

 urged Clough to establish a lumber operation near Puget Sound

Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

. Until his death at age 78, the logger-turned-lumber baron lived in Everett, Washington

Everett, Washington

Everett is the county seat of and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Named for Everett Colby, son of founder Charles L. Colby, it lies north of Seattle. The city had a total population of 103,019 at the 2010 census, making it the 6th largest in the state and...

, where he championed the interests of the mill owners against their employees' unionization efforts.