February 9, 1920. Knowles and Spiker Say Yes, Hoover Says No, Senate Reconsiders, Riots In Kentucky and Treaties On the Far North

Monday February 9, 1920 saw Guy Spiker marry Emily Knowles, seemingly resolving the drama over the illicit, and as the paper notes illegal, relationship between Pearly Spiker and Miss Knowles and the fate of their son.  Time would prove that settlement less certain.

Another settlement that would prove to be uncertain was that reflected in the Treaty of Versailles, which the U.S. Senate was agreeing to take a second look at.

Railroaders were threatening to go on strike again in the U.S. and the National Guard stopped an attempted lynch mob in Kentucky through the use of violent force, showing that the events of the Red Summer of 1919 weren't quite fully behind the country yet, and wouldn't be for some time.

Herbert Hoover, whose name had been circulated as a potential Republican candidate for President in the 1920 race declined to run.  A person has to wonder if he later wished he had run in 1920, instead of eight years later when he did.

Elsewhere, the landmark treaty regarding the joint use of the Arctic island of Svalbard, a Norwegian territorial possession but used by several nations for hunting and economic activities, was signed by those principally interested in the island.

The Casper Weekly Tribune for December 29, 1916: Carranza official arrives in Washington, land for St. Anthony's purchased, and the Ohio Oil Co. increases its capital.

While a protocol had been signed, a Carranza delegate was still arriving to review it.  Keep in mind, Carranza had not signed it himself.

Also in the news, and no doubt of interest to Wyomingites whose relatives were serving in the National Guard on the border, Kentucky Guardsmen exchanged shots with Mexicans, but the circumstances were not clearly reported on.

In very local news two locals bought the real property on North Center Street where St. Anthony's Catholic Church is located today.  The boom that the oil industry, and World War One, was causing in Casper was expressing itself in all sorts of substantial building. As we've discussed here before, part of that saw the construction of three very substantial churches all in this time frame, within one block of each other.

St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Casper Wyoming.

The news about the Ohio Oil Company, at one time part of the Standard family but a stand alone entity after Standard was busted up in 1911, was not small news.  Ohio Oil was a major player in the Natrona County oilfields at the time and would be for decades.  It would contribute a major office building to Casper in later years which is still in use. At one time it was the largest oil company in the United States.  In the 1960s it changed its name to Marathon and in the 1980s moved its headquarters from Casper to Cody Wyoming.  At some point it began to have a major presence in the Houston area and in recent years it sold its Wyoming assets, including the Cody headquarters, and it now no longer has a presence of the same type in the state.