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Henry W. McLaughlin (March 6, 1854 – January 4, 1912) was a lumberman, mayor, sheriff, and state representative from Montana. Though an apt politician always elected by wide margins, McLaughlin later suffered from financial problems and was one of the multiple Montana legislators questioned in regards to taking bribes from William A. Clark in his bid to become a U.S. Senator in the 1898 election

Early Life
McLaughlin was born March 6, 1854 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania to Irish immigrants and raised in Scott, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin before moving to Montana in 1882 where he worked on the railroad.

Missoula, Montana
On September 26, 1889, McLaughlin married Rose Jane Gogery and moved to Missoula, Montana where was to be the Superindendent of bridges and buildings for the Northern Pacific Railway. In 1890, he started the McLaughlin Lumber Company along the new Bitter Root Valley Railroad in South Missoula in today's McCormick District where it quickly became a leading manufacturing company in the young city producing lumber, doors, sash, blinds, and store fixtures. He would own and operate this land until a controversial sale to William A. Clark in 1898.

In April 1893, McLaughlin was elected Mayor of Missoula as a Democrat with his term beginning two weeks later on May 1.