Episode 150: The Steptoe Expedition

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:15)
Well, we're heading into the summer of the Mountain Meadows Massacre on the Sunstone Mormon History Podcast. It's the summer of war, which seems apropos right now. Summer doesn't have to be all depressing. There's some good things happening summer too. It's the summer of Sunstone's 50th anniversary. And so Bryan and I are going to be there. And even though it's a hard time, it's a hard summer, I'm looking forward to being with my folks at Sunstone. And I'm actually looking forward to having a summer, talking about 1857 on the podcast. We've worked our way here, so we're going to talk about The Steptoe Expedition tonight. But yeah, if you're hearing this, it's a few weeks before the summer symposium, so make sure you register. It feels like a weird non-sequitur that I compared war to a summer of Sunstone. But I want you guys to come visit Bryan and I. Bryan, tell them what we're going to be doing.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:10)
So because we're gluttonous for punishment, we're going to be presenting not just once, but twice. So one of them is going to be the big breaking news is the 1886 John Taylor revelation has just been released. So we'll do a whole session on that. It'll be a lunchtime one. It's going to be a lot of fun.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:26)
And if you haven't checked it out, we did a YouTube video on our channel as well on the Sunstone Symposium channel talking about the 1886 revelation.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:34)
Our other presentation was our original one before the breaking news. It's sort of like the fruits of 1886 So we're going to be talking about this really super interesting guy named Judson Tolman, who's a patriarch in Davis County and performs a bunch of plural marriages, including people like Joseph Musser and David Jeffs, the father of Rue Lee Jeffs, all these really interesting central figures to the history of fundamentalist Mormonism all tie back to this guy. It'll be a lot of fun.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:02)
Yeah, so register at sunstone.org. Come check us out. Like I said, it's been a hard summer for a lot of folks, but if you can make it down to the University of Utah at the end of July, beginning of August, we are going to be communing with a lot of cool historians. We've got John Turner talking about his new Joseph Smith biography. We've got Amanda Komodo and John Dinger coming down from Idaho to talk about Idaho history. We've got a lot of good historians gathered to talk about lots of good stuff, so make sure you check that out.
Hi, this is Lindsay Hansen Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:47)
This is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:48)
Bringing you the story of Mormonism from the shadow of the Everlasting Hills, straight out of Zion, this isn't your grandpa's Mormon history.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:16)
This is the tale of Mormon saints and sinners from our roots until present day. Saddle up.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:21)
Gird your loins, lock your hearts, and pay your tithing, because we're bringing you the story of Mormonism in all its paradisiacal glory.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:29)
It's the Sunstone History Podcast.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:53)
And now, we're heading into the summer. We're officially kicking off our summer of 1857, as we head into the summer of 2025 And the tension is thick, the rumors are flying, and the Utah territory is holding its breath. And you'll hold your breath too, because in the next six to seven episodes, we're gonna be talking about Utah War, Mountain Meadows massacre, really getting into the history. And so, we're just gonna make it the summer of 1857 And it's not unlike 2025, you know, different century, same vibe, everyone's on edge, politics are chaotic, and people are preparing for the worst, whether it's an invading army or just another election cycle.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:34)
Right? You're feeling a little existential dread these days. The news is not your friend. Guess what? You're gonna fit right in with the Mormons in 1857, because Alfred's coming to doge Utah, that kind of thing. Do you see what we did there?

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (4:48)
Alfred coming doging Utah is exactly what it was. We know what's coming. We know that blood will be spilled in Southern Utah come September. But before we get to that, before we get to the massacre, we need to tie up a few loose ends with the history. Some stories didn't finish. It certainly began when earlier soldiers came into the valley, including The Steptoe Expedition, who came to Salt Lake City before Johnston's army was even a thing. They came here and then they left and then they just went quiet for a while.