The New International Encyclopædia/Tucson

TUC′SON. The largest city of Arizona, and the county seat of Pima County, 130 miles southeast of Phœnix; on the Santa Cruz River, and on the Southern Pacific Railroad (Map: Arizona, C 3). It is the seat of the University of Arizona, opened in 1891, and of Saint Joseph's Academy. The public library has about 3500 volumes. Cattle-raising and farming are the leading industries of the surrounding district, which also has considerable mineral wealth. The industrial establishments of the city are for the most part connected with the mining industry. The water-works are owned by the municipality. Population, in 1890, 5150; in 1900, 7531.

Tucson was first permanently settled as a presidio by the Spaniards about 1776, though there had been previously a small Indian village, or rancheria (abandoned in 1763), under the control of the Spanish authorities. It lies within the territory obtained for the United States by the ‘Gadsden Purchase’ of 1853. It was the capital of Arizona Territory from 1867 to 1877, and was incorporated in 1877 and reincorporated in 1883. There seems to be no foundation for the belief that Tucson was founded by the Spaniards in 1560, and thus antedates Saint Augustine. Consult Bancroft, History of New Mexico and Arizona (San Francisco, 1880).