Source Report Card
Chapter 36: Disavowed, Part One: The 1877 "John Taylor" Vision and the Dream Mine
| Source | Who | When | Chain | Rung | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D&C 45:31 ("desolating sickness"); D&C 5:19 ("desolating scourge") | Revelation through Joseph Smith | 1829-1831 | 1st-hand | 1 | A+ |
| "A Warning Voice," Deseret News (Church section), 2 Aug 1913, p. 1; Improvement Era 16 (Sept 1913): 1148-49 (doesn't name Koyle; tie to his mine per First Presidency private letters, via Barber) | First Presidency (President Joseph F. Smith; Anthon H. Lund, then First Counselor; Charles W. Penrose, then Second Counselor) | 1913; reprinted 1932 and late Dec 1945 | 1st-hand | 2 | A |
| Gospel Topics, "Food Storage" ("do not go to extremes") | The Church (official site) | current | 1st-hand | 2 | A |
| Harold B. Lee, "Admonitions for the Priesthood of God" (quotes the 1913 rule) | President Harold B. Lee (then Church President) | Oct 1972 | 1st-hand | 3 | A |
| Conference Report, Oct 1918, p. 57 ("I am not guilty") | President Joseph F. Smith (then Church President) | Oct 1918 | 1st-hand | 3 | A |
| Conference Report, Oct 1918, pp. 54-55 ("absurd") | Elder Joseph Fielding Smith (then Quorum of the Twelve; later Church President) | Oct 1918 | 1st-hand | 3 | A |
| Conference Report, Apr 1931, pp. 68-69 (repeats the 1918 denial) | Elder Joseph Fielding Smith (then Quorum of the Twelve; later Church President) | Apr 1931 | 1st-hand | 3 | A |
| Deseret Evening News, 17 Nov 1880 ("it is a fraud"), reprinted in Turley, Victims (1992), 16-20, and Parshall (2012) | Joseph F. Smith (then Second Counselor in the First Presidency; later Church President) | 17 Nov 1880 | 1st-hand | 4 | B |
| First Presidency letter to Nebo Stake presidency on Koyle stock sales (via Barber) | First Presidency (Smith, then Church President; Lund, then First Counselor; Penrose, then Second Counselor) | 21 Apr 1913 | 1st-hand (private letter) | 4 | B |
| Talmage journal on inspecting the mine (via Barber) | James E. Talmage (then Quorum of the Twelve) | 16 Jul 1913 | 1st-hand | 4 | B |
| 1932 reprint note (Barber, citing Christianson 1962 and Pierce 1958, pp. 37-39); Sept 1946 editorial opposing the mine (Barber, citing Pierce 1958, pp. 84, 86) | Deseret News Church section | 1932; Sept 1946 | secondary (originals not checked) | 2 | B (down one step: via Barber only) |
| Pierce letter to his stake presidency citing Jesse Knight (via Barber) | Norman C. Pierce | 12 Oct 1959 | 1st-hand | 6 | ✖ Disavowed |
| Parshall's finding of "exactly no direct evidence" tying the vision to John Taylor | Ardis E. Parshall, historian | 2012 | secondary | Historian's study (used to find the originals) | n/a |
| Excommunication wording, and "nothing whatsoever to do with his excommunication" (Edna G. Brockbank, Treasures of Pioneer History 1:206, via Barber) | Edna G. Brockbank, local chronicler | 1952 | 3rd-hand | 5 | D |
| Koyle's July 1914 "did not wish to be out of harmony" (1914 meeting notes quoted in a 24 Sept 1931 Nebo Stake clerk letter, via Barber) | Koyle, as recorded by the stake clerk | Jul 1914 | 2nd-hand (1914 notes, surviving in a 1931 copy) | 5 | C |
| Jesse Knight's dream mine (Knight family history, 1940, via Barber) | Knight family | recalled decades later | 3rd-hand | 5 | D |
| 1877 vision, copy in Wilford Woodruff's journal | Unknown author (a Historian's Office clerk made another copy) | vision dated 16 Dec 1877; copied 15 Jun 1878 | Untraceable | 6 | ✖ Disavowed |
| Modern "Vision of President John Taylor (1877)" (Doctrine and Covenants wording) | Anonymous re-editor; same text denied 1880/1918/1931 | Undated (modern copies) | Untraceable, altered | 6 | ✖ Disavowed |
| Pierce's 1934 manuscript, "Relief Through a Dream Mine" ("Read and acknowledged by John H. Koyle"; Barber's source for the 1914 closure and money-crash story) | Norman C. Pierce, about Koyle | written 1934 | 3rd-hand (Pierce's write-up of Koyle's 40-year-old memory) | 6 | ✖ Disavowed |
| Pierce, The Dream Mine Story (1958), pp. 13, 15 (Barber's source for the 1894 vision details) | Norman C. Pierce | 1958 | 3rd-hand, embellished | 6 | ✖ Disavowed |
| "The time will soon come when we cannot buy" (Carter E. Grant journal, via Barber) | Koyle, as recorded by a follower | Mar 1931 | 2nd-hand | 6 | ✖ Disavowed |
| Ian Barber, "Dream Mines and Religious Identity..." (Princeton University Library Chronicle) | Ian Barber, historian | 2010 | secondary | Historian's study (used to find the originals) | n/a |
Where to look: Improvement Era 1913 at archive.org (improvementera16011unse); Gospel Topics "Food Storage" at churchofjesuschrist.org; Parshall's Keepapitchinin post of 29 Oct 2012 ("Concocted in Some Corner"); Barber's article on the Princeton Western Americana blog (Barber-Final.pdf).