Arizona republican., 1921-04-13

i great reunion yesterday That the
 number was expected, but that they should represent so thoroughly every
 part of Arizona and should form such
 a strong and unbroken link with the
 past as was shown to be the fact in their get-together meeting at River
 side park yesterday afternoon were
 matters of speculation only, and this
 newspaper extends it's congratula- tions to all who assisted in making
 the reunion the unqualified success
 which it was.
 A canvass of those who attended that the pioneers, as had been pre- dicted, had come to the reunion from
 all sections of Arizona. The southern and central parts of the state were exceptionally well represented. but every other part of the commonwealth had sent it's old timers, with the re- suit that practically every county in the state had citizen present dur l ing the activities of the day. In ad- dition to the foregoing, and perhaps | more important, was the fact that those attending the reunion form an unbroken chain of living knowledge of the early days in this state-a chain that goes back to 1851 without a single break
 In connection with the foregoing. the attention of readers of The Re publican is directed to the special Pioneer edition which is published this morning. This edition represents not only the continuation of several
 months work. but also the co-or- dinated effort of hundreds of pioneers to give a correct entertaining and intimate history of the youngest reflected in. The Republican this morning
 l Soon after The Republican had an Inounced that it would hold a great re union of the pioneers of Arizona in Phoenix, it also issued request that | the old timers would send to it their personal "reminiscences of the most i important and interesting events of l their lives in this state. The re- sponse was almost instantaneous.
 From the most outlying and inacces sible parts of the commonwealth the | stories were sent in. They were in pen and pencil and with typewriter and they were carried on paper of all l sorts. sizes and descriptions-bu each one was part of the best his tory of Arizona, at least in some re spects, which has ever been com
 piled.
 These stories do not represent dry narration of facts according to
 certain schedule and reflecting the
 opinions of a single individual, but they represent the thoughts and feel ings of the very men and women who
 made the history which they recount.
 The things they tell they actually saw
 and did. It is first-hand informa-
 tion-information that throws many
 a new light on the history of this state and which gives a personal knowledge of that history as such as could be obtained through no other
 medium
 ! When the letters were received at the offices of The Republican, they were given to the charge of the edi- torial department, which transcribed those which needed transcription gave them the necessary headlines ! and arranged them in the paper. The magnitude of the task and the en-
 thusiasm shown, by the pioneers Tn the project is shown by the fact that |, more than 60 columns of matter has been prepared for this edition with out taking into account the obtaining ', of old photographs and the making of z the necessary cuts.
 Many of the stories were told ir
 person by the pioneers to representa- , tives of The Republican, and others c were recounted by relatives ol I friends of pioneers who had received | them at first hand from the latter : The entire compilation. however. witt c regard to how it was obtained is per t haps unique in the history of news
 paperdom, as it is in any other effor : to make a permanent record of the : personal "reminiscences of pioneers il
 any state.