Thomas Nast first used this symbol for the Republican Party in Harper's Weekly November 7, 1874
... His 
drawings appeared for the first time in Harper's Weekly on March 19,... [DOC] [TLE] The Democratic Donkey and the Republican Elephant [PAR] He first used the donkey in an 1870 Harper's Weekly cartoon to represent the ... 
by Harper's Weekly that made the pachyderm stick as the Republican's symbol.