Episode 164: Mormon Mail and the Pony Express

About this episode

This episode explores the history of mail delivery among Mormons and the Pony Express in the American West.

Before texts, tracking numbers, and two-day shipping, a letter could take months to cross the continent, assuming it arrived at all. In this episode, Lindsay and Bryan saddle up for the tangled story of Mormons, mail, freighting, and power in the American West, from Brigham Young’s ambitious Y.X. Company and the political chaos of the …

People in this episode

Hosts: Lindsay, Bryan

Topics covered

• Mormon history
• mail delivery
• Pony Express
• American West
• freighting
• Brigham Young

Keywords

• Mormon mail
• Pony Express
• Brigham Young
• Y.X. Company
• American West
• freighting
• letter delivery

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Y.X. Company

Places: American West

More episodes of Sunstone Mormon History Podcast

• Episode 163: The Old Salt Lake Theatre · April 22, 2026
• Episode 162: Madam Pattirini Built Utah · April 2, 2026
• Episode 161: Brave Little Book of Mormon · March 18, 2026
• Episode 160: The Heber J. Grant Journals—Fruits of a New Policy · March 6, 2026
• Episode 159: Books of the Massacre · February 11, 2026
• Episode 158: Dan Neal on Polygamy, Murder and Mayhem in Idaho · December 1, 2025