As already mentioned in this narrative, among the events which occurred at the Greely Scientific Colony, or Fort Conger, was the establishment of a newspaper, the first ever issued so near the north pole, the nearest approach to it previously having been “The Ice-Blink,” issued by Kane’s Expedition in 1854. It was projected by G. W. Rice and C. B. Henry, but Lieutenant Lockwood was the editor-in-chief. The sheet was fifteen by nineteen inches in size, first prepared in manuscript and then multiplied by photograph, published on the 2d of November, 1881, and semi-monthly as to time. As the musk-oxen, the walruses, and the bears and wolves of Grinnell Land took no interest in the enterprise, the patrons of the paper were confined to the colony of explorers. In his opening address, the editor proudly claimed that his corps of contributors embraced the finest minds in the country; that his reporters would always be “on the spot”; that the journal was certain to be superior to any other in the country; and that the subscription list numbered not less than twenty-five thousand—the last assertion being a servile imitation of what often appears in the papers of New York and other American cities. And now, by way of giving the reader an idea of the style and character of this unique journal, it is proposed to reproduce in this chapter, as specimens, a collection of its editorials, contributions, items of news, and advertisements. In an article on “Christmas,” the editor gives us the following pathetic reflections: “Our Christmas-time has come and gone, and, although our geographical position is not a favorable one for the complete observation of this joyous anniversary, it was attended with many of the happy features that make its memory a pleasant landmark of the dying year. No boughs of ‘evergreen were berried bright’ (our crop of evergreens failed this season), but had they existed, the conditions for making them ‘white with rime’ were very favorable.