Can the Nephite City of Zarahemla be in Iowa?

Recently we have found a surprising increase in people being interested in the Heartland model of Rodney L. Meldrum and Bruce H. Porter, who lead numerous tours into the central and eastern region of the U.S., claiming it was the landing area of Lehi and the home of the Jaredites, Nephites and Lamanites. This model also includes the small town in Iowa, about 12 miles north of Keokuk, a mile inland to the west of the Mississippi River and across the river from Nauvoo, which Joseph Smith was instructed to call Zarahemla in August 1841, changing the name from the Iowa Stake to Zarahemla Stake.

Land in southeastern Iowa, northern Missouri, and western Illinois, where Zarahemla, Montrose and Keokuk, Iowa, as well as Nauvoo, Illinois are located, and all this area is extremely flat, with some low-rolling hills

This Zarahemla was first settled in May 1839, with the site for the town selected by Joseph Smith on July 2, 1839, and later confirmed by revelation, March 1841. A stake, called the Iowa Stake, was organized by Joseph Smith in October, 1839, and by August 1841, the stake had 750 members in nine branches, when the name was changed to Zarahemla Stake. This followed an inquiry by Joseph Smith, asking to know the Lord’s “will concerning the Saints in the Territory of Iowa.”
    To this, the response came: “Verily, thus saith the Lord…if those who call themselves by my name and are essaying to be my saints…let them gather themselves together unto the places which I shall appoint unto them by my servant Joseph, and build up cities unto my name, that they may be prepared for that which is in store for a time to come. Let them build up a city unto my name upon the land opposite the city of Nauvoo, and let the name of Zarahemla be named upon it. And let all those who come from the east, and the west, and the north, and the south, that have desires to dwell therein, take up their inheritance in the same, as well as in the city of Nashville, or in the city of Nauvoo, and in all the stakes which I have appointed, saith the Lord” (D&C 125:1-4).
    Now Meldrum and the Heartland theorists and followers, claim this was a revelation regarding the city of Iowa as being the original site of the city of Zarahemla of the Book of Mormon; however, as can clearly be seen, there is no reason to make such a claim since there is no indication of this being the case in the revelation. In fact, the purpose of the revelation appears to be the requiring of the early Saints being obedient to Joseph Smith’s instructions, whether about the name of towns or the locations for settlement. 
    It should also be noted that neither Joseph Smith nor any of those involved at the time made any connection or described this town in Iowa as the site of the Nephite Zarahemla. Nor did any of the early or later writings include such connections (Richard E. Bennett, "Montrose, Iowa," in Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History, edited by Donald Q. Cannon, Richard O. Cowan, Arnold K. Garr , Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 2000; Stanley B. Kimball, “Nauvoo West: The Mormons of the Iowa Shore,” Brigham Young University Studies 18, Winter 1978, pp132–142).

In 1839 Arriving Mormons bought the township of Commerce and Joseph Smith renamed it Nauvoo. Across the Mississippi was the area of Montrose, which Joseph Smith bought a portion of and where the city of Zarahemla was eventually built where the original Fort Des Moines once stood

 

Across the river from Nauvoo, the Church bought two extensive tracts of land in a triangular tract area, extending from Fort Madison on the north, westward to the Des Moines River and south to Keokuk. This purchase also included a site three miles south of Montrose called Nashville, and 20,000 acres around it and along the Mississippi River, plus 30,000 acres in and around Montrose.
    In early 1839 some 40 LDS families occupied the deserted U.S. Army barracks of Old Fort Des Moines, located just across the river from where Nauvoo soon sprang up. Families residing there included those of church apostles Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff. The unattractive, spartan, U-shaped army barracks, which faced the Mississippi River, had been built in 1834 and abandoned in 1837, after considerable harassment from the Sauk Indians who felt their treaty had been violated.
    That summer members on both sides of the river suffered deadly sicknesses, at which time, the prophet Joseph, though sick himself, rose from his bed and ministered to the sick in Nauvoo, then crossed the river with five apostles, where he blessed and healed several, including Brigham Young.

The view from the area of Montrose/Zarahemla on the west side of the Mississippi; across the river from Nauvoo

In 1839 Montrose was surveyed, streets were laid out, and a temple site selected. By that fall so many Saints lived in and around Montrose that the church established a stake there, the Iowa Stake, with Joseph as the Stake President, along with a high council, bishop, and nine branches or congregations that by 1841 included some 750 Mormons. Shortly after, Joseph changed the name of the stake to Zarahemla Stake.
    Five months after changing the name from Iowa Stake to Zarahemla Stake, in January 1842, the stake was disbanded and the members were encouraged to move into Nauvoo, though many stayed and continued to develop the Iowa area, though the stake in Iowa was replaced by a single branch. In addition, the Saints in Iowa established three other settlements: Ambrosia (originally called Hawley’s Settlement), three miles to the north of Zarahemla where the Saint’s massive Sugar Creek encampment was located when they left Nauvoo in 1846; Nashville just south of Zarahemla, with its own steamboat landing; and Augusta, sixteen miles from Nauvoo, and expanding to both sides of the Skunk River, with three saw mills and two flour mills.
    In August of 1842, Joseph Smith stayed in the town of Zarahemla at his uncle John Smith’s home, and after his and his brother Hyrum’s death, and after the Church moved on to the Salt Lake Valley, in 1846 the city of Montrose absorbed the town of Zarahemla, as stated by the Assistant Church Historian, Andrew Jenson (Encyclopedic History of the Church, Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 1941, p972).

Early church settlements during and the Nauvoo period in Illinois and Iowa

In addition, Anthony W. Ivins, who served as both first and second counselors in the First Presidency (1921-1934), stated in Conference Report, April 1829, p16: “There is a great deal of talk about the geography of the Book of Mormon. Where was the land of Zarahemla? Where was the City of Zarahemla? and other geographic matters. It does not make any difference to us. There has never been anything yet set forth that definitely settles that question. So the Church says we are just waiting until we discover the truth. All kinds of theories have been advanced. I have talked with at least half a dozen men that have found the very place where the City of Zarahemla stood, and notwithstanding the fact that they profess to be Book of Mormon students, they vary a thousand miles apart in the places they have located. We do not offer any definite solution. As you study the Book of Mormon keep these things in mind and do not make definite statements concerning things that have not been proven in advance to be true.”
    Also, on this subject, Harold B. Lee stated: “Some say the Hill Cumorah was in southern Mexico (and someone pushed it down still farther) and not in western New York. Well, if the Lord wanted us to know where it was, or where Zarahemla was, he’d have given us latitude and longitude, don’t you think? And why bother our heads trying to discover with archaeological certainty the geographical locations of the cities of the Book of Mormon like Zarahemla?” (Harold B. Lee, “Loyalty,” address to religious educators, 8 July 1966; in Charge to Religious Educators, 2nd ed., Church Educational System and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, 1982, p65).
    The point is, despite the major claims of Meldrum and others, we cannot base a model on the location of the hill Cumorah or the city of Zarahemla. Our understanding of the geography of the Book of Mormon would have to be based on the scriptural reference, not someone’s opinion of the names used in the early settlements of Illinois.
    Rod Meldrum, a big proponent of Zarahemla, Iowa, and the Nauvoo area of Illinois being the site of the Book of Mormon Zarahemla along the Mississippi River which he claims was the River Sidon. However, the ancient prophet Mormon tells us that the city of Zarahemla of the Nephites was located much further from the Sidon River, which was to the east “in the borders of Zarahemla, by the waters of Sidon” (Mormon 1:10), and the “hill Amnihu, which was east of the river Sidon, which ran by the land of Zarahemla,” showing that the River Sidon was east, along the borders of the land of Zarahemla, with that border running between the Land of Zarahemla and the Land of Gideon: “he departed from them, yea, from the church which was in the city of Zarahemla, and went over upon the east of the river Sidon, into the valley of Gideon, there having been a city built, which was called the city of Gideon, which was in the valley that was called Gideon” (Alma 6:7),with the city of Gideon located in the Valley of Gideon (Alma 6:8), to the east of the border with the Land of Zarahamla.
    Obviously, there is no way, then, that Zarahemla, Iowa, one mile from the banks of the Mississippi, could have been the Zarahemla of the Book of Mormon, since the Sidon was in the far eastern borders of the Land of Zarahemla.

Southern Iowa Drift Plain and Eastern Glaciated Plains make up the landform for miles in each direction of southern Iowa and northern Missouri. The Central Plains marks more than 90% of Illinois and is the most prevalent landform, earning it the nickname “prairie state”

The point is, this area of southeast Iowa, northeast Missouri, and western Illinois is basically a flat land totally opposite of what the scriptural record points out between Zarahemla and the Land of Nephi, the latter being much higher in elevation—a factor that does not exist along the Mississippi River.
    As shown in the map above, the location of Zarahemla, Iowa, is upon a Drift Plain, meaning it is a plain (flat land) underlain with glacial drift—smoothly flowing slopes covered with from five to thirty feet of silty, sandy deposit or loess. This is a loosely compacted yellowish-gray deposit of very fine grained silt thought to have formed as the result of grinding by glaciers and to have been deposited by windblown sediment of which extensive deposits occur. It is found basically in eastern China and the American Midwest, dominating the flat appearance of the entire landform region.
    The Glaciated Plains are a result of continental glaciers that invaded the northern Great Plains, with their forces having a profound effect on the entire region, leaving what is called “pre-Illinoian tills” throughout the state, leaving a till plain or large, relatively flat plain of till that forms from the ice when it melts in place. In Illinois, or Central Plains, resulted from glaciers that once covered most of the state and, as they pushed southward, flattened the land. The last glacier retreated northward about 12,000 years ago. As the ice melted, sediment remained creating “till plains,” characterized by rich soil and rolling, almost flat landscapes.
    Again, this is not at all the description given of the area south of Zarahemla, which was located in the mountains, at a much higher elevation than Zarahemla. This is confirmed by Amaleki, an eye witness to the account of Mosiah leaving the city of Nephi and discovering the people of Zarahemla: “and they departed out of the land into the wilderness, as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord; and they were led by many preachings and prophesyings. And they were admonished continually by the word of God; and they were led by the power of his arm, through the wilderness, until they came down into the land which is called the land of Zarahemla” (Omni 1:13, emphasis added).
    Now this Land of Zarahemla was separated from the higher Land of Nephi by a “narrow strip of wilderness” as Mormon informs us when telling us of the Lamanite king’s people who: “were in all his land…which was bordering even to the sea, on the east and on the west, and which was divided from the land of Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west” (Alma 22:27).