Roland Hill Hartley was a Canadian-American lumber business owner and politician, the first Republican to serve two terms as the Governor of the state of Washington, from 1925 to 1933. He was defeated for a third term during the Great Depression, and was succeeded by a Democrat. Born in New Brunswick, Canada, he moved to Minnesota in the United States as a young man and entered the timber industry. In 1902 he moved to Everett, Washington, where he ultimately had interests in several timber companies and a tugboat company. In 1910 he entered electoral politics, serving one term as mayor of Everett. Later he was elected to the State House, where he served one term.
After moving to Minnesota, he worked summers on bonanza farms in Dakota Territory and winters in the logging industry. He later relocated to Minneapolis, finding work as a bookkeeper for Clough Brothers Lumber Company. In 1888, he married Nina M. Clough, daughter of David Clough, cementing his ties to Clough Brothers. The couple would have three children, Edward, David, and Mary. Hartley rose to become manager and then Vice President of Clough Brothers. His father-in-law was elected Governor of Minnesota in 1895, and in 1897 Hartley began serving as his private secretary. During the Spanish–American War of 1898, he additionally served as the Governor's representative and staff aide to the Minnesota National Guard, acquiring the honorific title of Colonel. In 1900, David Clough moved to Everett, Washington to establish a new sawmill. Hartley, in turn, managed development of the new Cass Lake, Minnesota townsite for his older brother Guildford Hartley. Hartley rejoined his father-in-law in Everett in 1902, eventually assuming roles as either manager or owner of Hartley and Lovejoy Logging Company, the Clark-Nickerson Lumber Company, the Everett Logging Company, the Clough-Hartley Mill, and Everett City Tug Boat Company. Hartley had joined the Republican Party. He was elected mayor of Everett, Washington, serving one term from 1910 to 1912. He was next elected in 1914 to the Washington State House of Representatives, serving from 1915 to 1916. Hartley was elected, in 1925, as tenth Governor of Washington. His father-in-law David Clough arranged to have the gavel used for his swearing-in as governor of Minnesota to be the one used for the swearing-in of his son-in-law Hartley as governor in Washington. Hartley's major accomplishments during his governorship were the creation of a centralized state highway department and passage of new state timber laws. He was the first Washington Republican governor to serve two terms and to run for a third. He was succeeded by Clarence D. Martin.
