Clough helped his family eke out a scanty living from the land by raising crops and cutting timber.

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.

Clough's first administration was notable for the ratification of significant amendments to the state constitution, including those establishing the Minnesota Board of Pardons, withdrawing the right of aliens to vote, and authorizing municipalities to frame "home rule" charters.

In 1900 the redoubtable railroad magnate James J. Hill urged Clough to establish a lumber operation near Puget Sound.

Until his death on August 28, 1924, at age 77, the logger-turned-lumber baron lived in Everett, Washington, where he championed the interests of the mill owners against their employees' unionization efforts.