The Erroneous Heartland Map – Part II

Continued from the previous post, regarding Rod L. Meldrum’s erroneous map and his theory of the Heartland model for the location of the Land of Promise. Continuing below with the list of items on his map—the first eight were listed in the previous post.
9. Land of Desolation: Meldrum has the Land of Desolation directly to the north of the Land of Bountiful, which is accurate, however, he also has the Land of Desolation directly to the north of of the Land of Zarahemla, which is not accurate. In addition,
10. The Land of Bountiful: Meldrum has the Land of Bountiful to the east of the Land of Zarahemla, and directly north of the Land of Nephi, bordering along the Ohio River. He also has it located to the south of the South River, which is north of the Land of Bountiful. However, none of these descriptions and locations are accurate to the scriptural record, where Mormon clearly states that moving northward from the south is 1) the Land of Nephi, 2) the Land of Zarahemla, 3) a Land in between Zarahemla and Bountiful, 4) the Land of Bountiful, 5) the Narrow Neck of Land, 6) the Land of Desolation, and 7) the Land of Many Waters (Alma 22:27-34).
11. The South Sea: Meldrum has his south sea located in Lake Erie, which is north of the entire Land Southward. In fact, the area between his west and east seas, and between his north and south seas, are contradictory to the description stated in relationship to the expansion of the Nephites: “that they did multiply and spread, and did go forth from the land southward to the land northward, and did spread insomuch that they began to cover the face of the whole earth, from the sea south to the sea north, from the sea west to the sea east” (Helaman 3:8). In addition, since all four of his seas are north of the entire area occupied by the Nephites, they do not meet the scriptural descriptions.

Meldrum has three different locations for his Narrow Pass; also shown is the Narrow Neck, referred to today as the Niagara Peninsula, which leads into the Ontario Peninsula of Canada

12. Narrow Neck of Land, Narrow Pass, and Narrow Passage: Four of Five of Meldrum’s necks of land and passes, are located between and around the joining of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, with the fifth southeast of lake Michigan. However, the scriptural record states that the narrow neck of land runs north and south, with seas on the east and west, not as Meldrum has his located. “Thus the land on the northward was called Desolation, and the land on the southward was called Bountiful…there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward” (Alma 22:31-32).
13. East Sea: The four seas are covered in #11 above, and #8 in the previous post. It is interesting that Meldrum has the Sea East north of his hill Cumorah One problem with that is when the Jaredite Omer traveled “many days, and came over and passed by the hill of Shim, and came over by the place where the Nephites were destroyed, and from thence eastward, and came to a place which was called Ablom, by the seashore” (Ether 9:3), we find that the Sea East is to the east of the hill Cumorah “where the Nephites were destroyed, and thus east of the Land Northward far from where Meldrum has placed his seas, and where his Cumorah is located.
14. The Hill Cumorah: Meldrum has his hill Cumorah where the unnamed hill in Manchester, now known to members as the hill Cumorah, is located. It is east of the Niagara neck, their proposed narrow neck of land. However, the scriptural record shows that the hill Cumorah is far to the north near the Sea East (Ether 9:3). In Meldrum’s map, his Cumorah is east of his narrow neck of land, which places the hill in the Land Southward, not the Land Northward where it was located (Ether 9:3).  

Blue Line: Meldrum’s narrow strip of wilderness is the Ohio River, which can be a border or boundary, but is never referred to as a wilderness, let alone a narrow strip of wilderness

15. Narrow Strip of Wilderness: Meldrum has his narrow strip of wilderness the Ohio River, running form its soured to where it runs into the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois, a distance of 981 miles in length. According to Mormon, this narrow strip ran along the northern boundary of the Land of Nephi, “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, and roundabout on the borders of the seashore” (Alma 22:27). However, Meldrum’s Ohio River for his narrow strip of wilderness cannot be called a wilderness under any circumstances.
    In 1828 the definition of a wilderness was: “A desert; a tract of land or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings, whether a forest or a wide barren plain. In the United States, it is applied only to a forest. In Scripture, it is applied frequently to the deserts of Arabia. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness forty years” (Noah Webster, 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, Manassachusetts, 1828). Today, wilderness means “an uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region; a wasteland, badlands, jungle, desert; an unused area of land that has become barren or overgrown; a bleak, unattractive, and unused or neglected land.”

16. Land of Nephi: Meldrum has his Land of Nephi throughout the flat lands or plains between the Ohio River to the north, the Appalachian Mountains to the east, the plains to the south, the Tennessee River and the Mississippi Valley to the west, with the City of Nephi (Lehi-Nephi) in south central Tennessee (Chattanooga). This land area basically runs around 120-feet in elevation to as high as 791-feet elevation, but mostly is in the 200- to 400-foot range. Hardly a description of the Land of Nephi, and particularly the City of Nephi, which was in the mountains (Mosiah 7:5),where the Nephites were constantly going up to the Land of Nephi and the Lamanites were constantly going down to the Land of Zarahemla; however, Chattanooga is only 676-feet in elevation—hardly a land in the mountains, or even large hills.
    In addition, Meldrum has his West Sea far to the north, no East Sea and no West Sea bordering on it. However, Mormon tells us otherwise. As an example, when Aaron was in the Land of Nephi among the Lamanites “he was led by the Spirit to the land of Nephi, even to the house of the king which was over all the land save it were the land of Ishmael; and he was the father of Lamoni“ (Alma 222:1), he decided to send “a proclamation throughout all the land, amongst all his people who were in all his land, who were in all the regions round about, which was bordering even to the sea, on the east and on the west“ (Alma 22:27). Thus, the Land of Nephi bordered on the east by the Sea East and on the west by the Sea West, and on the south by the Sea South.
    Yet, Meldrum’s map does not show that. And in addition, he does not have a land in between the Land of Desolation and the Land of Bountiful.
17. Land of First Inheritance: Meldrum has his land of first inheritance in the far south running from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico northward and east and west along that corridor of North Florida and southern Alabama and southeastern Georgia. His area is not by a any West Sea nor an any East Sea, though it could be claimed to be by the South Sea, except on Meldrum’s map, the seas are far to the north of running on each side of his narrow neck of land.

Meldrum’s Landing sight for Lehi along the shore near Tallahassee, Florida along the south coast, with the Gulf of Medico to the south 

18. Lehi Landing: Meldrum has Lehi landing along the northern Gulf of Mexico where the southern Florida coast is located, at an area near Tallahassee, Florida. As we have stated many times in articles of this blog, the climate classification of Jerusalem is called Mediterranean, as is the area of La Serena, Chile, a place where seeds brought from Jerusalem would have “grown exceedingly and produced an abundant harvest” (1 Nephi 18:24). However, the climate of Tallahassee is “humid subtropical,” very different from a Mediterranean climate, and seeds from Jerusalem would not have grown there.
    In 18 points of Meldrum’s map of the Land of Promise, all 18 are inaccurate when compared with the scriptural record, since Mormon and others describe these areas very differently than Meldrum. So who is right? Meldrum? Or Mormon?
    For all these Heartland Model enthusiasts, perhaps it is time to wake up and pay more attention to the scriptural record which provides sufficient descriptive information to show the fallacious ideas that are being promoted as the Book of Mormon lands by theorists today.