He was ordained an elder in the church at age 18 and then served as a missionary in Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland.
He crossed the ocean on the Amazon on which he served as the first counselor in the presidency over the Latter-day Saints on board.
[1] In Utah, Sloan was the founder of the Salt Lake Daily Herald in 1870, which he ran with William C. Dunbar.
When his efforts to get a column on women's issues included in the Herald were defeated by Dunbar, Sloan went ahead and organized the Woman's Exponent with Lula Greene as editor.
[2] Prior to the founding of the Herald, Sloan had assisted George Q. Cannon in editing the Deseret News.