What Were the Narrow Pass and Passage, and the Narrow and Small Neck of Land?

If there is one area of total misunderstanding of the Land of Promise, it can be found in the various explanations of the Pass and Passage, and the Narrow and Small Neck of Land mentioned in the Scriptural Record. By comparison, there was also a Narrow Strip of Wilderness as well as wildernesses in general.
    As an example the word “wilderness” is used 248 times in the scriptural record, of which 184 have to do with wildernesses in the Land of Promise. Of the latter, there are a south wilderness, a west wilderness, east wilderness and a brief mention of a north wilderness, or a wilderness in the north. There are two instances of wilderness referring to the narrow strip of wilderness, or the south wilderness
    There were wildernesses in the mountains, near several cities, and a large wilderness east of the city of Zarahemla.

A wilderness can be almost any type of terrain, including forests, deserts, mountains, and plains. The only criteria is that the area has to be devoid of settlement and human occupation

In fact, wilderness is mentioned 248 times in the scriptural record, with 184 instances about the Land of Promise, with only two having a name other than a cardinal direction, and that is Hermounts and Akish. Yet there is only one “wilderness,” described in size and specific location and that is the Narrow Strip of Wilderness that divided the Nephites from the Lamanites and ran from the Sea East to the Sea West.
    Also, since there was a Sea East and a Sea West in the Land of Nephi (Alma 22:28), with the West Sea running as far south as to where Lehi landed (Alma 22:28). It also ran northward as far as the narrow neck (Alma 63:5) or narrow passage (Mormon 50:34) separating the Land Northward from the Land Southward. Which Sea West ran as far south as to where Lehi landed (Alma 22:30).
    Thus, it should be concluded that all of the Land Southward was surrounded by these seas.It should also be noted that these seas extended north as far as the Land of Desolation (Alma 22:32) in the Land Northward.
    Now this Narrow Neck of Land was also called a Small Neck of Land by Mormon in his writing when he described the layout of the Land of Promise (Alma 22:32), calling it a small neck of land in Alma 22:32 and a narrow nerck of land in Alma 63:5.

The Narrow Pass or Passage would have been through some type of impassable terrain, such as these

Mormon also described the Narrow Pass and the Narrow Passage being the same thing, as he noted calling it a Narrow Passage when describing the division of the Nephites and Lamanites in a treaty (Mormon 2:29), and five verses later, when talking about the same location, describing the narrow neck of land between the Land Northward and the Land Southward (Mormon 3:5).
    Once again, there were two distinct land masses in the Land of Promise—the Land Southward and the Land Northward. In between these two land masses was a narrow stretch of land, called the Small or Narrow Neck of Land. The wordage behind this is found in Alma as Mormon wrote: “thus the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water, there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward (Alma 22:32).
    Now in this stretch of land, which was the only stretch of land connecting the Land Northward to the Land Southward, was a narrow pass or passage in this twenty five to thirty mile width that allowed someone to pass from the Land Southward into the Land Northward. This narrow pass ran by the sea from the Land Southward into the Land Northward (Alma 52:9). This narrow pass or narrow stretch of land had seas on both sides, or the on east and west (Alma 50:34). This is the same pass that led into the Land Southward from the Land Northward (Mormon 2:29). Thus, we can see that the Narrow Nek of land had a Narrow Passage running through it from the Land Southward into the Land Northward. This Narrow Pass was the only way to from one land to another and was the focal point when Morianton was trying to get from the Land Southward into the Land Northward in his flight from Moroni’s army (Alma 50:34).
    This narrow neck was a natural division line between the two major land masses, and when the Nephites and Lamanites reached a treaty that divided up the Land of Promise in about 328 AD., they used this narrow neck and narrow passage as the dividing line, with the Nephites taking the Land Northward and the Lamanites taking the Land Southward (Mormon 2:29).

The Narrow Neck of Land was the only connected land area between the Land Northward and the Land Southward, and the Narrow Pass was the only way through the Narrow Neck

To better understand this areas of the Land of Promise, we need to realize that with only one stretch of land between the two major land masses, i.e. the Land Northward and the Land Southward, referred to as the Small or Narrow Neck of Land, it connected the Land of Desolation (Land Northward) with the Land of Bountiful (Land Southward).
    Along the borders of these two major land masses was where Hagoth built his shipyard “on the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation” along this West Sea by the Narrow Neck of land (Alma 63:5). This is also where the Jaredites “built a great city” (Ether 10:20).
    Now the type of narrow passage is not given, but by the wordage and knowledge of the writing, it would seem that the narrow pass was probably through rough terrain, such as mountains, gorges, canyons or a running wall of impassable rock.