Otter Tail County’s first permanent settlement, a lake and a township are all named after a slaveholding southerner whose goal was to turn Minnesota into a slaveholding state.

The son of a United States army officer, George Bush Burgwin Clitherall was admitted to West Point in 1832 despite being a mediocre student. Any hope of becoming an officer was thwarted when, after just four months, he was discharged due to “deficiencies in mathematics and French.”

After he was kicked out of school, Clitherall moved to Mobile, Alabama where he became a founding member of the Mobile Rifle Company. In the spring of 1857, he was appointed agent at the United States Land Office in Otter Tail City. He was one of three southern slaveholders appointed by President James Buchanan to a federal position in Minnesota Territory.

At this time in America, slavery was dividing the nation. It was also in the spring of 1857 that the Supreme Court in what became known as the Dred Scott Decision, legalized slavery in all territories if they chose to do so. It was believed that Clitherall was part of a southern land syndicate whose goal was to get enough influence to turn Minnesota into a slave state. While the historical record on this attempt is sketchy, within a few years Clitherall had acquired large tracts of land in Anoka, Pine, Chisago and Sherburne Counties.

The conspiracy became moot when the Civil War began. George Clitherall returned to Alabama and never returned to Minnesota.

In the Old Clitherall Storybook, Hallie Gould summarized the feelings of fellow Cutlerites on the name of their community:

“How we wish these early homemakers had been the ones to give this lake and town its name. We wish they had given it a name they particularly loved because of some memory or past association. This would have given it an added fascination for those of us who love the place partly for our forebears sake.”