[Illustration: (_The Weekly Arizonian_)]
Printing began in Arizona with the establishment of _The Weekly
Arizonian_, at the mining town of Tubac, on March 3, 1859. The Santa
Rita Mining Company, which owned this newspaper, had imported the
first press from Cincinnati, and the first printers are said to have
been employees of the company named Jack Sims and George Smithson.[128]
The Library of Congress file of the _Arizonian_ starts with the issue
of August 18, 1859, the earliest example of Arizona printing now held
by the Library. The paper had removed from Tubac to Tucson shortly
before that date under rather dramatic circumstances. Edward E. Cross,
its first editor, vigorously opposed a movement in favor of separating
Arizona from New Mexico and organizing it as an independent territory.
In attacking population statistics put forward by Sylvester Mowry, the
leader of that movement, Cross impugned Mowry's character, whereupon
Mowry challenged him to a duel, which was fought with rifles on July
8 without injury to either party. Mowry subsequently purchased the
printing press and moved it to Tucson. Under a new editor, J. Howard
Wells, the _Arizonian_'s positions were completely reversed.[129]
The issue of August 18 supports the candidacy of Sylvester Mowry
for delegate to Congress, in an election scheduled for September
1. In view of past events it was understandable that the paper
should encourage a heavy vote, not only to demonstrate the unity of
Arizonians desiring Territorial status, but also to indicate the
extent of the population. The following short article relates to the
recurrent topic of numbers: