Episode 20: Houston, We Have a Problem (in Kirtland)

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:06)
While the Missouri Experiment Phase 1 had failed miserably, Kirtland was going pretty well. People were gathering, the city was a bustling center of activity, missionaries had spread out throughout the region, and new converts were constantly streaming into the steadily growing headquarters.
Church hierarchy was slowly settling into a structure that we would mostly recognize as modern LDS Mormons. There's a president, 12 apostles, 70s high council, bishops, so on, so on. This was shaping up to be the good part of a lifetime movie. Nothing would change, right?

**Christopher C. Smith** (0:35)
Right?

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:36)
Right?

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:41)
Hi, this is Lindsay Hansen Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:43)
And this is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:44)
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** (1:12)
That only you can save me, Brother Brigham, Brother Young.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:17)
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** (1:25)
It's the Sunstone History Podcast.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:48)
This expansion came with a large price tag. Much like Henry Moyle would do a century later, day tune for baseball baptisms, everyone, construction costs in Kirtland pushed Mormonism to the brink of financial disaster.
It's expensive to build a temple. And though we don't know exactly how much the Kirtland temple cost, the committee dudes sucked up math just about as much as Bryan does.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:12)
Ouch.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:13)
The best guess is about $40,000. And for reference, I know that sounds like, nope, I'm not going to make a billion-dollar joke here.
No, it is.
I know it doesn't sound like that's an expensive temple, but for reference, that's somewhere in the neighborhood of a million dollars in current values. And Mormons were poor. Membership was about $13,000, so yeah, that's a hefty number. I mean, it's not $100 billion, but that'll come later.
Too soon?

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:48)
Keep in mind that the economy at this point was very different. You don't just waltz into your local circuit city with a $20 bill with 9-11 was an inside job written on the edge and buy the latest Smash Mouth CD. Banks would issue their own currency and it might be accepted, it might not.
Actual silver and gold was very useful, but you also had to be sure it was the proper weight and it wasn't tin or chocolate inside. Mormons were buying materials from all sorts of places, various sources, using various methods, but they still came up short. When the temple is dedicated in 1836, they're probably in debt about $13,000. And that doesn't include a lot more in loans to well-to-do church members who had floated them a lot of dollars.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:51)
First of all, nobody buys Smash Mouth CDs anymore. Sorry, Bryan. Second of all, as a result, some squishing of numbers started. Let me explain what that means. A high council meeting after the dedication looked into an accusation by Joseph Smith that a man named Preserved Harris, who was a brother of Martin Harris and owner of a great weird old name, Preserved, there's a trend for 2020, was not being liberal enough with his wallet.
I mean, Preserved is in his name, so I feel like that was standard. But during the meeting, the first presidency, Councilor Frederick G. Williams got up and said, the case before us is an important one. The church pour Zion to be built and we have not means to do it unless the rich assist and because the rich have not assisted, the heads of the church have to suffer and now suffering under severe embarrassments and are much in debt. That's a nice little guilt trip.
So well then, what to do? It was at this point that Joseph Smith's financial shoulder angels became really important. The only problem, they were actually devils and continually gave him terrible ideas. For all of Joseph Smith's talents, finances weren't really one of them.
He sucked with the numbers about as much as Bryan, but at least he had better taste in music.

**Bryan Buchanan** (5:13)
Hey man, I'm an all-star. The summer got a little bit ugly. Wages were on the decline and Mormons really needed money. Many of the dudes are on missions constantly, remember, and that doesn't help much with the situation.
So as a result, credit begins to be more widely used and land speculation spiked. So remember a few minutes ago when we talked about Smash Mouth? Yeah, and to a lesser degree also bank notes. This is a huge part of our story here. So at this point, banks aren't under the control of states, but we're on the verge of a huge change where many of them no longer even need a state-issued charter and would just kind of do the do-as-you-feel mantra.