True Book of Mormon Geography

ASCENDS TOWARD THE SOUTH

The Narrow Neck itself must ascend toward the South:

And it bordered upon the land which they called Desolation it being so far northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and had been destroyed of whose bones we have spoken which was discovered by the people of Zarahemla it being the place of their first landing and they came from there UP into the south wilderness (Alma 22:30-31)

If your Narrow Neck ascends toward the North (As the Batavia Moraine.), it cannot be the true Narrow Neck spoken of in the Book of Mormon.

ALONG THE WEST SIDE OF BOOK OF MORMON LANDS

a. It should be along the West Sea.

b. It should be on the west side of Book of Mormon lands.

c. It should have a stretch of land 1.5 days wide to the east of it. (The entire width of Book of Mormon lands.)

d. The land to its east should be flat.

e. There is nothing to its west.

The Batavia Moraine fails all five points. In fact, Tonawanda Creek runs through the City of Batavia which means, Batavia was one of the lowest parts of Lake Tonawanda! The Batavia Moraine would have only been seen, used, and accessible from the Land Northward, and would have merely been used as a peninsula since it descends toward the south, into Lake Tonawanda.

PHYLLIS CAROL OLIVE

The main proponent of the Batavia Moraine Theory is Phyllis Carol Olive, and is supported by Vincent Coon, Scott Hamilton and Lee Pearson. The following maps were authored by Olive and are found on each of their web sites, but show how the land looked around 13,000 years ago, not 2000 years ago:

PROBLEMS

1. Desolation should be north of the Narrow Neck not south.
2. Desolation should stretch from the West Sea to the East Sea.
3. Tonawanda Creek (which can be seen going around Batavia) was one of the deepest parts of Lake Tonawanda and should be under water in her rendering. Tonawanda Creek flows north and west. The Tonawanda Creek Watershed Map shows the true lay of the land.
4. There should be a 1.5 day distance from the Narrow Neck to the East Sea.
5. That 1.5 day stretch of land should be composed of flat plains.
6. The Narrow Neck should be along the West Sea, not the Sea that Divides the Land.
7. The Narrow Neck was "small" (Alma 22:32) meaning it was not miles long extending the entire width of the Sea that Divides the Land/Lake Tonawanda.
8. Olive can't explain why Nephi and Lehi went first to the City of Bountiful on their missionary journey from Zarahemla (Helaman 5:14), which on her model is the furthest city they went to.
9. Olive can't explain how Limhi's Expedition Team could miss Zarahemla traveling from the Land of Nephi, which was south of Zarahemla and reach the Narrow Neck and RETURN without seeing a Nephite.
10. The land adjacent to Grand Island she shows to be under water during Book of Mormon times, but the archaeological record says man was there along the Niagara River: "The area along the river (near Black Rock/Tonawanda) was long known as being utilized prehistorically. (See Table 3-2)" (General Motors Tonawanda Engine Plant Expansion, Stage 1 Archaeological Investigation, OPRHP, No. 00 PR 1166, August 4, 2000, p. 3-56)
11. Olive ignores the fact that Hagoth built an "EXCEEDING LARGE SHIP" (Alma 63:5) which would not work in Lake Tonawanda which was "shallow": "Although large in area, it was shallow. The water along the eastern shore at Rochester, New York was only four feet deep." (Niagara Falls Origins - a Geological History)
12. Olive also ignores the reference which says Hagoth put his boat in the "West Sea" not the Sea that Divides the Land: "launched it forth into the West Sea by the Narrow Neck" (Ibid.).
13. And that Hagoth sailed "northward" which is impossible in her model: "they took their course northward" (Alma 63:6).

OTHER OLIVE MAP

OLIVE'S CONTRADICTORY MAP

In the above map (of an earlier date) Olive has the Narrow Neck closer to the true location along the west side. Unfortunately she does not have an INTERNAL MAP void of artistic embellishments. Her art presumes to reflect the topography yet in reality it's a renderiing of her view, which contradicts itself.

Instead, she should produce an Internal Map based on the text so we can see if she understands it, and not ignore verses because her interpretation of topographical maps don't fit. Coon, Hamilton and Pearson need to produce their own Internal Maps before embracing Olives physical interpretations. (Additional details are on the H38 Virus page.)

MORAINE & ESCARPMENT DEFINED

 

Moraine: "A ridge, mound, or irregular mass of unstratified glacial drift, chiefly boulders, gravel, sand, and clay. "

 

Escarpment: "A long, precipitous, clifflike ridge of land, rock, or the like, commonly formed by faulting or fracturing of the earth's crust."

Inordinate amounts of time are being spent trying to identify "moraines" and "escarpments" as if they're the smoking gun to show how water pooled or flowed two thousand years ago. It is preposterous to do so when one considers how inept science is at factoring in past cataclysmic events such as earthquakes, droughts, weather changes, or the calamities that occurred at the coming of Christ.

(© Phyllis Carol Olive, Lost Empires of The Book of Mormon, p. 103)

Once again, Olive's artistic embellishments of Google Earth maps does a disservice to Google's maps and students of the Book of Mormon. The following image however does show that the water to the west of her neck was too shallow for Hagoth's "EXCEEDINGLY LARGE SHIPS" and of course there's still no way to sail "NORTH". 

This is the problem with arm chair geography enthusiasts. What's in their mind is not what's on the ground. Olive says:

"The head of Buffalo Creek begins in a wetland in the far southeastern corner of Erie County..." (bookofmormonlands.com/bomlands_016.htm, rtrvd 12/2/11)

 The only thing at the head of the Buffalo Creek is a hard wood forested area. 

MODERN DAY FLOODING

In modern times Tonawanda Creek has overflown her banks and flooded the City of Batavia:

©William Seaver

"These extraordinary measures couldn't completely contain the rampaging Tonawanda.

 

''Most cellars in the flood zone along South Main street, Pearl street, West Main street were window-deep in water,'' The Daily News reported in its Monday editions. ''Officials estimated that 300 to 400 furnace fires were snuffed out by the water that either poured in windows or backed up from sewers.''

 

Property damage was estimated in the six figures, a huge sum for the late 1940s." (Mark Graczyk, "HIDDEN HISTORY: An Easter Sunday flood, 1947," thedailynewsonline.com, June 26, 2011)
 

Today's floods were yesterday's norm. Batavia was under water during Book of Mormon time and the Moraine inaccessible.

Without an Internal Map, Book of Mormon geographers will change their models according to the faulty interpretations of man.

FORTIFICATIONS

Squire mentioned wooden fortifications along the Batavia Moraine, but those postdate Nephite forts by 1400 years. All Nephite fortifications were destroyed by the Lamanites. (Mormon 5:5)

The only fortifications we should expect to find after 1400 years would be earthen walls. The city with the largest earthen walls was the City Bountiful.

On our Land Southward page we identify the City of Bountiful as modern day Buffalo. Early discoverers of the area did in fact find an earthen wall surrounding it, with a cache of tools, weapons and utensils numbering in the thousands.

Black Rock Pier -->