Limited Geography Model - Great Lakes Setting

Great Lakes Setting

Some LDS researchers have proposed a limited Great Lakes setting for the Book of Mormon (Aston 1998). One of these proposals has the histories of the Jaredite, Nephite and Lamanite civilizations taking place in a small area of southern Ontario and western New York. The seas surrounding the land are said to be Lakes Huron, Ontario, and Erie (Curtis 1988).

LDS scholars have given the following reasons for discounting some of these theories:

• A lack of appropriate geographical features, such as highlands and lowlands. However, the limited Great Lakes setting proposed by Olive meets topographical requirements surprisingly well (Olive 2000).
• The presumed lack of seismic activity in the northeastern United States. Actually western New York is subject to strong anomalous earthquakes (Kafka 2004).
• The presumption that snow and cold are not mentioned in the Book of Mormon - except in the instance where Nephi, after arriving in the Promised Land of America, described his previous visions to future generations “who should possess the land” (1 Nephi 11:8, 1 Nephi 19:1-5, 2 Nephi 5:28-33) Nephi’s expression translated “…driven snow”, which presumably his descendents could relate to, implies that Nephi had experienced something like a blizzard – snow carried by the wind into drifts (Shakespeare, William, Winter’s Tale, Act 4, character: Autolycus). Nephi’s exact wording is without parallel in the Bible. It rarely snows in temperate Jerusalem. Jewish prophets were acquainted with the white-capped mountains of Lebanon to the north (Jeremiah 18:14, Isaiah 1:18, Psalms 51:7). Nephi’s Promised Land description of the Tree of Life can be compared with Lehi’s description of its fruit. In the wilderness, adjacent to the Red Sea, Lehi described the fruit of the Tree of Life to his family, but did not specifically liken its “whiteness” to snow (1 Nephi 8:11). The Book of Mormon also describes severe “hail”, a weather condition favored in temperate climates (Mosiah 12:6, Helaman 5:12). The Hebrew word “barad” translated “hail”, relates to a Semitic term for cold or become cold (ברד, The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew Aramaic Lexicon).

Beginning in the spring (the month of the “Abib”, a critical stage of barley maturation), and continuing through the year, four seasons are required for keeping all of the ordinances of the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 16:1-12, Exodus 23:14-17, Exodus 34:18-22, Leviticus 23). Tropical Mesoamerica experiences a wet and a dry season year round. There is presently no evidence of pre-Columbian barley in Central America. Evidence of barley cultivation in ancient northern American has been found near the Great Lakes (Bennett 2000). When the Book of Mormon mentions “seasons”, it is clear from the context that only part of the year is referred to (Mosiah 18:4, Alma 46:40). It may be concluded that Book of Mormon lands were subject to more than two seasons with no impediment to keeping the ordinances of Israel (2 Nephi 5:10). Evidence indicates that winters were milder in western New York during Book of Mormon times. Even in modern times, humid, western New York occasionally experiences a heat index of 80 - 90 °F (32 °C) in the spring and early summer (Alma 51:33).

• It is believed by some, that Book of Mormon lands must be located in a volcanically active region, but there is no explicit mention of volcanoes or volcanism in the text. Smoke caused by the burning of forests and timber cities can be ascertained, but what else may have contributed to episodes of daytime darkness described in the Book of Mormon, is not clear. The Book of Mormon seems to make a distinction between the "vapor of smoke" and "mist" (water vapor?). (3 Nephi 8:7-22, 3 Nephi 9:10-11, 3 Nephi 10:13-14, Helaman 5:40-43). Author Phyllis Carol Olive is perhaps the first expert on Book of Mormon lands to call attention to the article titled “THE DARK DAYS AND EARTHQUAKES IN CANADA” published in The Historical Magazine and Notes and Queries Concerning the Antiquities, History and Biography of America, Vol. VIII, 1864. It is a historical fact that the regions of Canada just to the north of New York have been subject not only to violent earthquakes but also enigmatic episodes of daytime darkness so profound and extensive that observes, right or wrong, have attributed the phenomena to volcanism. The Historical Magazine of 1864, cites several documented examples and presents the opinions of notable witnesses of the phenomena.
• Opponents of a limited Great Lakes setting say that the cultures of the ancient inhabitants of the area (mound builder) do not match the Book of Mormon narrative, even though North American peoples associated with these cultures, are known to have been accomplished metal workers, and to have made impressive works of earth, timber, rock, and plaster (“cement”, see 19th century definition, Oxford Dictionary; Joseph Smith History 1:52), not unlike the constructions described in the Book of Mormon (Alma 49:2-18, Alma 50:1-4, Helaman 3:9). Joseph Smith affirmed that at least some of the mound builders were the Nephites of the Book of Mormon.
• In opposition to placing the setting for the Book of Mormon in lands near the Great Lakes (lands now occupied by the United States of America, 1 Nephi 13:30, 2 Nephi 10:10-11, Doctrine and Covenants 10:48-51) it has been suggested that a feature as significant as Niagara Falls could not escape mention in the Book of Mormon had this been the area in which the civilizations described in it existed (Palmer 1990). However, in the limited Great Lakes setting proposed by Olive, Niagara Falls situate on a watery western extremity and would not have been encountered in any of the situations detailed in the abridged Nephite narrative. The fact that western New York was inundated in antiquity fits the description found in Ether 13:2. Olive points out that there were several cataracts along the northern escarpment, resulting from the overflow of old Lake Tonawanda (believed to be the Book of Mormon’s land-dividing sea, Ether 10:20). More than one of these may have rivaled the falls of Niagara (Olive 2008). The land northward in Olive’s Book of Mormon settings, certainly qualifies as a land of “many water, rivers and fountains” (Mormon 6:4). It may well be asked, why Niagara Falls should have received so much attention.

Particularly troublesome to the Mesoamerica geography hypothesis, is the fact LDS scripture places Cumorah, a land which the Book of Mormon says is “in a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains”, near New York’s Finger Lakes, just south of Lake Ontario (Doctrine and Covenants 128:20; Church History maps 1, 2 and 3 accompanying the Doctrine and Covenants). Based on LDS scripture, and statements of early church members, several General Authorities of the church have publicly opposed the idea that Cumorah is in Mexico or Central America.

It is clear that the Book of Mormon “land northward” has a limiting northern boundary. The land is likely bounded on the north by the exceedingly large “waters of Ripliancum”, whereas Southern Mexico is open on the north to the continent (Ether 15:8-11, 3 Nephi 4:23, 3 Nephi 7:12, Alma 50:29, Helaman 3:8). In counties near Lake Ontario, E.G. Squier, commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution, documented the remains of numerous earth and timber “castles” and “towns” constructed by the indigenous peoples of western New York (Squier 1849). With the expansion of modern civilization, aboriginal monuments and antiquities have vanished from the New York landscape.

From written statements made by Joseph Smith, it may be concluded that Book of Mormon peoples or their descendents migrated from “the lake country of America” (near Lake Ontario) to Mexico and Central America. There is no known statement by Joseph Smith, however, which explicitly asserts that Book of Mormon lands are to be found in Mexico and Central America.

During the fall of 1842, Joseph Smith found it necessary to go into hiding (Doctrine and Covenants 127:1, Doctrine and Covenants 128:1). During this time, several anonymous and contradictory articles, doting on the discoveries of John Lloyd Stephens, were published in the church’s Times and Seasons newspaper. Joseph Smith thought highly of Stephens’ bestseller but only made minor mention of it in his "AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES" editorial (July 15, 1842). The anonymous “ZARAHEMLA” article (October 1, 1842), on the other hand, alleges that the Central American ruins of Quirigua (now known to date more recent than Book of Mormon times) are none other than the ruins of Zarahemla or some other Book of Mormon city. This sensational piece was published in the same issue as a signed letter to the church from Joseph Smith (in hiding). Inferred in Joseph Smith’s epistle (dated September 6, 1842) is the Finger Lakes location of Cumorah. A careful study of the Book of Mormon shows that Zarahemla cannot be thousands of miles distance from the land Cumorah (Mosiah 8:7-8, Mosiah 21:25-26, Mormon 6:2-6, Ether 1:1-2, Ether 15:11-12).

It is unlikely that things as common as monkeys (translated “apes” in the KJV) and palm trees could escape mention in the Book of Mormon had Mesoamerica been the area in which the civilizations describes in it existed. In the Book of Mormon, the only reference to anything like a jaguar is “leopard”, and this occurs only in quotations from the biblical prophet Isaiah. On the other hand, “lions” (possibly cougars) are mentioned more than once in Nephite history (Mosiah 20:10, Alma 14:29).

Contrary to several artistic depictions, there is no explicit reference to any temple or pyramid made of hewn stone in New World Book of Mormon lands. We read that the Nephites constructed their temples from timber (2 Nephi 5:15-16, Helaman 3:9). Hugh Nibley remarked:

In the Nephites we have a small and mobile population dispersed over a great land area, living in quickly built wooden cities, their most ambitious structures being fortifications of earth and timbers occasionally reinforced with stones. The vast majority of Book of Mormon people, almost all of them in fact, are eligible for the title of "migrating and nomadic" peoples. We have seen that the Lamanites were a slothful predatory lot on the whole, and that even the Nephites were always "wanderers in a strange land."

The Book of Mormon is a history of a related primitive church, and one may well ask what kind of remains the Nephites would leave us from their more virtuous days. A closer approximation to the Book of Mormon picture of Nephite culture is seen in the earth and palisade structures of the Hopewell and Adena culture areas than in the later stately piles of stone in Mesoamerica.

By comparison, there are numerous references to buildings made of hewn stone in the Old Testament (1 Kings 5:15). Mexico and Central America are renowned for stone ruins.

• A place of inheritance by a west sea:

The Book of Mormon indicates that there was a western sea near the place of the American land of “first inheritance”. (Alma 22:28) There is nothing in the Book of Mormon indicating that this west sea was saltwater. The biblical word “yam”, translated “sea”, doesn’t necessarily mean ocean. An early Mormon document in the handwriting of Frederick G. Williams speculates that Lehi’s company “sailed in a southeast direction and landed on the Continent of South America in Chili thirty degrees south latitude.” This document greatly influenced a tradition that Lehi’s family voyaged across the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the vast Pacific Ocean. Twentieth Century LDS Church authorities, however, called the Williams document into question. The idea that the “west sea” of the Book of Mormon is the Pacific Ocean has, nevertheless, persisted in localized Central American, South American and exaggerated hemispheric settings for the Book of Mormon.

Mesoamerican setting advocate John E. Clark writes that all seas that bordered New World Book of Mormon lands “had to be the Pacific and Atlantic oceans…” This statement is without clear scriptural support. Citing Alma 22:28, Clark alleges that “Lehi arrived from the Old World across the west sea”. Great Lakes, and American Heartland setting advocates point out that this verse (cited by Clark), does not in fact say that Lehi voyaged across “the west sea”. Clark alleges that the designations of west and east seas in the Book of Mormon “…are tied to…original arduous journeys across oceans and the receding direction of their forfeited homeland.” But LDS scripture does not clearly identify “the waters of the great deep”, “the great waters” or “the many waters” that Book of Mormon peoples voyaged across, with either of the seas immediately west or east of the lands of Zarahemla and Nephi. Clark’s broad oceanic reference frame(s) seems inconsistent with the clearly local designation of “the sea on the west and on the east” of a terrestrial location “by the narrow pass…”. It can only be concluded, based on LDS scripture, that the American land of “first inheritance” extended to and included a place by the shore of a sea that situated west relative to the land of Nephi. To allege that all Book of Mormon seas are oceans is to make extrapolations beyond what the scripture actually states. The logic that sea = ocean, fails in the case of many biblical verses that refer to a “sea” or “the sea”. Even “the great sea” (the Mediterranean, Numbers 34:6) bordering the biblical Promise Land, is essentially an inland body of water.

Rejecting hemispheric settings and accepting the scriptural location of Cumorah (D&C 128:20), LDS authors Olive, May and others, have concluded that the “many waters” crossed by Lehi’s family involved the Atlantic Ocean. This view is clearly at odds with the Indian and Pacific Ocean tradition alleged in sources like the Williams document. A prophetic vision recorded in the Book of Mormon describes how “a man among the Gentiles” was seen navigating “the many waters”. The reference to “the many waters” in this instance, is unequivocally interpreted by LDS to mean the Atlantic Ocean, and the implicit descriptions (in the scripture) of events in colonial American history, seems to support this conclusion.

The scenario advanced by Heartland and Great Lakes setting advocates considers that events at Jerusalem and teetering family relations, had made is unwise for Lehi’s family to flee to the populated Mediterranean coast. The prospect of sailing to another land of promise by way of the Mediterranean was therefore out of the question. In an effort to avoid adversaries, Lehi’s family fled into the southern desert, eventually arriving at an isolated location on the southeastern shore of the Arabian Peninsula. There they constructed a ship. Currents and seasonal winds at this location could have carried them to the coast of Africa and southward. There may have been more than thirty individuals in Lehi’s company at this point. They would have had only so much stowage aboard their vessel for food and freshwater. The preferred route to the land of promise would have been one that would keep in reach of coastline (food and much needed fresh water) most of the voyage. After “many days” at sea, they confronted a fearsome tempest (proposed to have occurred near Africa’s horn). Thereafter, with enough freshwater and supplies stored aboard, they crossed over to the Western Hemisphere along the shorter and more direct route between the Old World and the New – assisted by the prevailing winds and equatorial currents of the Atlantic. Still aided by currents and winds, they sailed along American coasts and island chains until they arrived near the Gulf of Mexico. At this point the opinions of Olive and May diverge as to the final landing of Lehi.

Favoring a setting more localized near the Great Lakes, Olive writes that Lehi’s company were directed by divine guidance across the Gulf and up interconnected North American straits such as the Mississippi, Ohio and other navigable ancient water ways, to within a short distance of the Book of Mormon’s “west sea” or “west sea, south” – the freshwater Great Lake Eerie (according to Olive). Both May and Olive agree that arrivals of other ancient peoples in the Book of Mormon land northward, occurred by way of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence channel.

Joseph Smith was open to the possibility that Book of Mormon peoples migrated from the north to Mexico and Central America, but clearly placed the arrival of the Jaredites in the region of “the lake country of America” (near Lake Ontario). Non-Mormon Josiah Priest, whose written work Joseph Smith editorialized, explicitly associated the title “lake country” with the Great Lakes region of America.