100 years ago in Spokane: The phony oil boom on the South Hill was devolving into a mess of legal threats and stubborn vows to keep drilling

Spokane was experiencing an oil “gusher,” all right – but it was a gusher of recriminations and finger-pointing after the U.S. Bureau of Mines announced that the South Hill’s “oil” was not petroleum at all, but largely kerosene, linseed oil and cottonseed oil.

Here were the latest developments:

• The Better Business Bureau of the Spokane Advertising Club was preparing a scathing report about the bogus oil “discoveries.”
• The U.S. Attorney was investigating possible fraud and conspiracy charges. There were some indications that loads of bogus oil had been dumped near the drilling sites to keep up the fiction.
• Attorneys for the Eastern Washington Oil Co., one of the main promoters of the “oil fever,” were claiming they were being slandered, and were preparing lawsuits.
• Other South Hill oil drillers were vowing to keep right on drilling.
• Local investors who had put thousands of dollars into the drilling companies were getting nervous.

From the dance beat: About 125 members of the Christian Endeavor youth group passed resolutions condemning a plan to hold dances in the city’s high school gyms.

A group leader said they weren’t opposed to dances, but did not think dances should be held in public schools.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1950: Ralph J. Bunche was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first Black American to receive the award.

1964: Martin Luther King Jr. received his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.