The first North Dakota publication was probably the _Frontier Scout_, a short-lived four-page, three-column sheet which made its appearance at Fort Union in July 1864. In the following year its successor, the _Pioneer Scout_, was issued at Fort Rice and, according to its editors, "published weekly by the First U. S. V. Infantry for the edification of the people of Dacotah, both civilized and savage; and as 'green' spots and 'green' backs are so few, we will not mention terms, but bid it, like the grace of God, go free." The editors further declared that "every article in this paper is original and sees the light of day for the first time." Journalistic activity lapsed subsequent to these military literary efforts, and was not revived until the railroad and the resultant influx of settlers in 1872 brought the new Territory to the attention of Minnesota editors. Col. Clement A. Lounsberry, sent by the Minneapolis _Tribune_ to cover colonization in the Fargo area, went on to Bismarck where, on July 11, 1873, the first number of his own paper, the Bismarck _Tribune_, appeared. First a weekly and later a daily, it has been published continuously since that time, missing only one edition, and on that occasion newsboys distributed hastily printed handbills containing formal notice that the _Tribune_ plant had been destroyed by fire (_see_ BISMARCK). Early journalism in the Fargo area was stimulated by the offer of the Wells-Fargo Express Company to give a cash bonus for a paper appearing under the name of the Fargo _Express_. First and unsuccessful bidder for the bonus was a sheet bearing the correct name, but printed at Glyndon, Minn. The prize was awarded in 1874 to a Fargo-printed publication. Between 1874 and 1891 several other papers were issued, to be merged finally in the Fargo _Forum_ in 1891. In 1874 the Grand Forks _Plaindealer_ was founded; five years later the _Herald_ was also in the field, and eventually absorbed the _Plaindealer_ (_see_ GRAND FORKS).