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Introduction

“From all the evidence in the Book of Mormon, augmented by the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, these final battles took place in the territory known as the United States, and in the neighborhood of the Great Lakes, and hills of Western New York” (President Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr.).

“It has long been known that many evidences of ancient labor and skill are to be found in the western parts of New York and Pennsylvania, upon the upper tributaries of the Ohio, and along the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario. Here we find a series of ancient earth-works, entrenched hills, and occasional mounds, or tumuli, concerning which history is mute, and the origin of which has been regarded as involved in impenetrable mystery. These remains became a subject of frequent remark, as the tide of emigration flowed westward; and various detached notices of their existence were, from time to time, made public” (E. G. Squier, Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New York, Smithsonian, 1849, pp. 9-10).

“Buffalo logged more days of 50% sunshine than Orlando, FL” (Mike Vogel, “Buffalo is Sunshine Capital of Northeast,” Buffalo News, May 18, 1989, A-1).

 

The true Book of Mormon lands are in Western New York between Palmyra and Erie, PA. Evidence of the ancient inhabitants have been documented in the following volumes:

The promise that Book of Mormon lands would become overrun once God’s people were gone was fulfilled:

“In the course of its long and eventful prehistory, the territory embraced in the present state of New York was invaded from nearly every direction. For several groups, notably the Iroquois, it was the end of the trail; others sojourned briefly and passed on. In part it was heavily occupied by diverse bands for a considerable period of time” (William A. Ritchie, “Culture Influences from Ohio in New York Archaeology,” American Antiquity, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Jan., 1937), pp. 182-194).

In 1817 Governor De Witt Clinton unsuccessfully tried to rouse interest in protecting the ancient monuments of New York:

“Interest in the prehistorical background of the Empire state seems first to have been voiced by the versatile and prescient De Witt Clinton in a brief paper on the earth works of western New York, read before the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York, in 1817, in an attempt, as he said, ‘to awaken the public mind to a subject of great importance before the means of investigation were entirely lost’ (fn. Clinton 1818).

“His cry in the wilderness passed unheard, however, for when E. G. Squier, in 1848, made an earthwork survey of northern, central, and western New York under the joint auspices of the Smithsonian Institution and the New York Historical Society, he found all save one of the then known and relatively rare sepulchral mounds already looted by treasure seekers, and many of the earth-walled fortifications partially or completely obliterated by the plow” (fn. Squier, 1851, pp. 11, 97) (William A. Ritchie, Pre-Iroquoian Occupations of New York, 1944, p. 2).

Not to mention that a fire broke out in the New York State Capital on March 29, 1911 destroying a hundred years worth of collected Indian relics:

“NEW YORK State’s magnificent $26,000,000 capitol building, recognized the country over as one of the masterpieces of architecture, had its western section completely fire swept on the morning of March twenty-ninth [1911], entailing a loss estimated by the State Architect at $5,000,000; practically destroying the State library with the most complete law library in the country, and destroying a tremendously valuable collection of books and ancillary collections of manuscripts and priceless historic relics, which it took one hundred years to collect with an unlimited supply of money, in addition to costing one human life” (Albany Evening Journal, March 29, 1911 cit. “Sparks” from the New York state capitol fire, Albany, N.Y., March 29, 1911, Coulson & Wendt, Albany, 1911, p. 6).

New York State Capitol Fire

 “On March 29, 1911, fire broke out in the Capitol. From the Assembly Library, it spread to the State Library near the museum displays. Flame, water, and breakage due to collapse of the sandstone ceiling brought almost total destruction to the collections on exhibit. Of 10,000 archaeological artifacts and ethnographic objects, only about 1500 were recovered, most of which were damaged. A mere 512 retained identifiable catalog numbers.

“Approximately 50 of the Morgan Collection items fortunately had been removed to the curator’s office for study before the fire. Most of the remaining 450 were damaged or destroyed. Even if not completely consumed by fire, many objects lost their identifying labels” (The New York State Capitol Fire).

These are some of the items that have been located: [link]

  • Copper tablet
  • Silver sheet
  • Copper sheet
  • Brass Helmet
  • Wagon
  • Padlocks
  • Iron axes
  • Steel axes
  • Copper axes
  • Glass bottles
  • Silver
  • Weapons
  • Bones
  • Kitchen utensils

The following prophecies were fulfilled on these lands: [link]

  • The Book of Mormon came forth on it.
  • The Book of Mormon was taken to the indigenous peoples of it.
  • White Gentiles came forth upon it by “the multitudes.”
  • The Gentiles scattered the indigenous peoples on it.
  • The Gentiles bought the lands from those indigenous peoples.
  • Together, the indigenous people and the Gentiles founded a new government.
  • That government became our United States of America.

The following Book of Mormon locations have been identified:

  • Water Boundaries: Sea West, East, North and South; Sea that Divides the Land.
  • Waterways: River Sidon and its two branches; where they sent forth for logging.
  • Harbors: where Lehi docked his boat; where Hagoth built, docked, sailed forth and returned with his ships; where they sent forth for timber; where they returned, docked and unloaded the timber.
  • Water Sources: for farming, drinking, and wildlife.
  • Wildernesses: dense enough that people can easily get lost; of a type hundreds could move through quickly without leaving tracks; of a wood used for building ships, homes, palaces and temples; Hermounts, the Lamanite Line of Possession.
  • Hills: around Zarahemla, Hill Amnihu, Hill Ramah.
  • Major Cities: Lehi, Nephi, Bountiful, Zarahemla.
  • Land: Ishmael, Nephi, Zarahemla, Bountiful, Narrow Passage, Northward, where land changed at Jesus’ coming.
  • Glory: City of Bountiful, where Jesus first appeared, where Ether and Moroni lived.

Aside from matching those items, we have also identified cement houses, poisonous serpents, elephants, where the Jaredites and Mulekites landed and lived, where they sent forth ships for timber; where Ether and Moroni lived safely undetected for years; and the place our Lord first descended in glory.

 

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