L.B. Clough

compiled by Columbian staff in 1989

L.B. Clough won most of his prominence as a Clark County sheriff, politician and pioneer in fruit packing.

He was a native of Vermont and came to Washington state in 1877 with Frank Marshall, who later became his brother-in-law. Clough was working in a nursery here in 1880.

Clough was one of the first men to plant prunes in Clark County, about 1879, on Main Street in what is now the north part of Vancouver. He built one of the first dryers and by the mid-'90s he was a pioneer in packing the fruit to be shipped to other parts of the country.

In 1901 and later, Clough was managing the Kelley-Clark Co. packing plant near the ferry landing. This was one of the biggest such plants north of San Jose, Calif.

Clough was active as Clark County sheriff about 1885-86, later served on the City Council and was an official in Vancouver banks. He also was elected a state senator and was Vancouver mayor shortly after the turn of the century.

Clough's mother, Alma, lived in Vancouver for a considerable time. She died in 1908. Clough went to Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1905 and did not return until about 1922. He died in Vancouver in September 1926.

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