John Barber Clough (1823-1887), American railroad engineer. Clough, (his middle name is sometimes spelled "Barbrour"), was born on Oct. 30, 1823 in Palmer, Hampden Co., Mass. In December 1848, following his graduation from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., he entered railway service as a rodman of the engineering party of the Mobile & Ohio railroad. Between 1849 and 1856, he was employed at the Vermont Valley (1849-1850), Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati, Cleveland, Painsville & Ashtabula (1850-1851), and Mobile & Ohio Railroads. In 1854, he moved to Macon, Miss., and then worked in Alabama and Tennessee for Edgefield & Kentucky and Nashville & Henderson Railroads. The beginning of the Civil War found him farming at Hopkins Station, near Minneapolis, Minn. (According to the family record, he and his family left on the last available river boat up the Mississippi before the outbreak of the war.) In March of 1863, he became construction engineer of the Military Railroads of Virginia, a semi-independent unit that reported to the Secretary of War. Clough served under his old friend Adna Anderson (1827-1889), formerly chief engineer of Edgefield & Kentucky RR. Clough supervised construction works in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, on Aquia Creek, Potomac Creek Bridge, Bristoe Station, Cumberland Valley Railroad at Chambersburg, and Rappahanock Bridge. After the war, he worked for various Western railroads, including the Northern Pacific, and served as Minneapolis's City Engineer, in 1869-1870 and 1874-1875. In 1881-1887, Clough served, again under the supervision of Adna Anderson, as division engineer for the Northern Pacific Railroad, Yellowstone and Wisconsin Divisions. In 1887 he was employed as division engineer for Boulder Valley & Butte Railroad, Helena & Western, Helena, Boulder, & Madison, and Helena Gallatin National Park Railroad. He died on Aug. 22, 1887 of pneumonia in Helena, Montana. Clough Junction, east of Helena is named after him. In 1854, he married Mary Annie Pierce. The couple had two children, Frank and Estella.
From the description of Civil War letters of J.B. Clough, 1863, Jan. 31-1864, Feb. 4. (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 84657017
