When the national media claimed Mormons would take over New Mexico

A century and a half ago, a scantily sourced news report claimed Latter-day Saints planned to convert New Mexico into a religious empire, leading the faithful in Salt Lake to cry "April Fools."

• This is Old News, where we try to separate historic fact from fiction.

The big picture: Congress was debating statehood for New Mexico in 1876 when an April 1 report in the New York Sun alleged that:

• The territorial governor there was secretly a well-connected Latter-day Saint who was pushing for massive land sales to the church and for statehood at the church's behest.
• Brigham Young had suddenly ordered all Mormon men to learn Spanish.
• Once admitted to the union, New Mexico would be devoured by a polygamous swarm and transform into a theocracy.

Reality check: New Mexico was heavily Catholic, it didn't become a state for decades and its present LDS population hovers around 1%.

Still, the story was a sensation in SLC.

• Church-aligned publications pointed to the date and said the "correspondent" had been pranked.
• The church-critical press defended the report and warned the nation to be wary of Young's power grabs.

Context: Deadly persecution existed in living memory for many Latter-day Saints, and anti-Mormon hysteria was rampant.

• Meanwhile, much of the country viewed Young as a powerful and ambitious theocrat.

Zoom out: The national media ran with the story — all the way to fantasyland.

In May, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Young had picked New Mexico as the saints' new Zion because his "prophetic eye" had divined that the Great Salt Lake would soon spill its shores and submerge SLC.

• A week later, the Detroit Free Press "transcribed" an interview in which Young himself purportedly said that after five years, the "Salt Lake Valley will be one vast ocean and Salt Lake City a city in the ocean."

The intrigue: This theory was based on a claim that salt deposits would soon clog a rumored underground outlet for the lake's water — which itself became a nationwide April Fool's joke.

What they said: The Salt Lake Herald tried to deflect the gossip, claiming in jest that Satan had actually told the Mormons to build 50,000 hot air balloons to fly to the North Pole, where they would find the 10 lost tribes of Israel.

The other side: The church's defenders downplayed its efforts to expand, including in New Mexico, more forcefully than was ultimately accurate.

• Yes, but: That narrative was less absurd than the one much of the national media was peddling.

The bottom line: Even on April Fool's Day, people will believe what they want.