[Illustration: (Column from _Arizonian_)]
[Footnote 128: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, _The Beginnings of Printing in Arizona_ (Chicago, 1937), p. 31, note 9.]
[Footnote 129: See Estelle Lutrell, _Newspapers and Periodicals of Arizona 1859-1911_ (Tucson, 1950), p. 7-8, 63-64. For more on Cross and Mowry, see Jo Ann Schmitt, _Fighting Editors_ (San Antonio, 1958), p. 1-21.]
The earliest examples of Colorado printing are the first numbers of two competing newspapers, which were issued at Denver on April 23, 1859, only about 20 minutes apart.[130] Taking precedence was the _Rocky Mountain News_, published by William N. Byers & Co. and printed with equipment purchased in Nebraska. Its printers were John L. Dailey of Ohio, a member of the company, and W. W. Whipple of Michigan.[131]
The Library of Congress recently acquired its earliest example of Colorado printing, a broadside entitled _Laws and Regulations of the Miners of the Gregory Diggings District_, attributed to the Byers & Co. press. Printed sometime after July 16, 1859, it is one of but two located copies of the first extant Colorado imprint other than a newspaper or newspaper extra.[132] The laws, passed at miners' meetings on June 8 and July 16, apply to the district named for John Gregory, whose successful prospecting helped to stimulate the famous Pike's Peak gold rush. They were placed in historical context by Peter C. Schank, assistant chief of the American-British Law Division in the Library of Congress, in an article announcing this acquisition:
the laws themselves are intrinsically valuable because they served as a model for much succeeding legislation, not only for other mining districts, but for State and national enactments as well. Despite the promulgation of California district laws 10 years earlier, the Gregory laws, perhaps because of the district's fame, the presence of prospectors with previous experience in other mining areas, and the imminent adoption of the first national mining statute, had a unique influence on the development of mining law in this country.[133]
The lower margin of the Library's copy is inscribed, "Favor of Stiles E Mills, July 20th 1863." Neither the identity of Mr. Mills nor the intervening provenance has been established. In recent years this copy belonged to Thomas W. Streeter (1883-1965) of Morristown, N. J., owner of the most important private library of Americana assembled during the 20th century. The Library of Congress paid $2,800 for the broadside at that portion of the Streeter sale held by Parke-Bernet Galleries on April 23-24, 1968.[134]