In 1832 Joseph Smith made the startling declaration that the Garden
of Eden had its existence on the American continent--even {102} in
Jackson County, Mo. People as a rule ridiculed the idea and thought
Joseph very ignorant indeed in not knowing that which every school
boy at that time was supposed to know, that Asia was the cradle of
mankind. And when he further declared that the Grand River Valley in
Daviess County, Mo., was the valley in which Adam our father had lived
and that he (Joseph) on an adjoining hill had discovered the remnants
of an altar upon which the great Patriarch had offered sacrifice,
the world thought that Joseph Smith was either a religious crank, a
blasphemer or a fool. I will introduce an item of history in order to
make this more plain. It was in the summer of 1838 when the Saints were
flocking into Missouri from different parts of the country that it
became evident that there would not be room for all to settle in the
immediate vicinity of Far West, or in Caldwell County. The Prophet,
therefore, together with others, started out to select other gathering
places. Arriving at a hill where there was a fine spring of water, at
a point where Grand River suddenly changes its course from a southerly
to an easterly direction, he was struck with the natural beauty of the
country and also with what he thought would be a fine townsite on the
slope of the hill. Accordingly, the accompanying surveyors began their
work of running lines for streets and lots, and it was decided to name
the place Spring Hill; but they had not proceeded far when the Lord,
on May 19, 1838, gave a revelation through the Prophet Joseph, naming
the place Adam-ondi-Ahman, "because," said the Lord, "it is the place
where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall
sit, as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet." (Doc. and Cov., sec. 116.)
Joseph was also told that it was the place where Adam, as mentioned
in a previous revelation, three years before his death, blessed his
posterity, when they rose up and called him Michael the Prince, the
Archangel; and he, being full of the Holy Ghost, predicted what should
befall his posterity to the latest generations. (Doc. and Cov., 107:
53-56.)
With all the claims of our American people, none, so far as I know, had
up to that time imagined for our country the honor of being the home
of our first parents, but since then it has become a favorite theory
with many. A few years after Joseph had proclaimed that the great
Mississippi Valley was the first home of man, the learned antiquarian,
Samuel L. Mitchell of New York, with other gentlemen eminent for their
knowledge of natural history, advanced the theory that America was the
land where Adam dwelt. He supported his theory by tracing the progress
of colonies westward from America {103} over the Pacific Ocean to new
settlements in Europe and Africa. (_Juvenile Instructor_, vol. 9: 278).
Other scientists have reasoned elaborately from the relics found in
different parts of North and South America, and have proven that the
Western Continent was inhabited before the flood. Now, if Adam dwelt
in America, Noah also dwelt here and must have built his ark on this
continent. Without entering into a detailed argument to prove this,
I will simply read the following from an able and lengthy article
entitled "Old America," written by G. M. O., and published in the ninth
volume of the _Juvenile Instructor_:
"Modern science has given us very accurately drawn charts of the
course of the wind through the atmosphere surrounding us. We have
no reason to believe these wind currents have changed since the
creation. Now the prevailing current of wind over the central part
of North America is from the west, and possibly this was the course
followed by the tornado during the deluge. Now if the ark had been
built in Armenia, where the mountain Ararat is situated, and it is
found that the wind and currents have general eastern direction,
the ark would, during the one hundred and fifty days or five months
of the deluge (that is from the commencement until the waters
gained their greatest depth), have gone in an eastern course, say
at the rate of about forty miles a day, some six thousand miles,
or beyond China; or if it floated faster, it would have left the
ark somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. This would be an unreasonable
theory to adopt, being entirely inconsistent. But the ark being
built in America, somewhere, we may imagine in the latitude of
Missouri, when taken up by the eastern-borne current, and wafted
by the hurricane following the same course, it is not out of the
way to suppose it to have progressed as far as Ararat, some six or
seven thousand miles from America, even had it traveled at a more
rapid rate than forty or fifty miles a day. Over sixteen hundred
years had passed from the creation until the ark was finished.
In this time mankind had increased and multiplied and spread out
far beyond the country around Eden (the Mississippi Valley), as
signs of an antediluvian population indicate, and we may suppose
the ark was built some distance east of the Garden, between the
States of New York and Missouri. Couple this supposition with
the circumstances connected with the flood, the current flowing
from America, with the fact of the ark's resting in an easterly
direction from this country, and we can form no other reasonable
conclusion than that here the miraculous vessel was constructed and
freighted with its treasure of animal life, and the progenitors
designated and set apart to renew the human race. That the ancient
Americans knew of the deluge is beyond dispute, as we have
several versions of the story of the flood that have been handed
down as tradition by different nations, and in one instance we
have a picture-written description of it, an old Toltec record,
fortunately preserved from the wholesale destruction that followed
the conquest."
Suffice it to say that it is no longer considered an absurd theory
that America was the cradle of man, and the home of Adam, Noah and the
other antediluvian patriarchs, but it has {104} taken many years of
patient study and thorough investigation of scientific problems for
men of learning to come to the same conclusion that Joseph Smith did
by revelation between fifty and sixty years ago. The following was
published in the DESERET NEWS of Sept. 18, 1888:
"A CORROBORATIVE DISCOVERY.
"A short time ago the Washington _Post_ made a remarkable statement
regarding the location of the Garden of Eden. It announced that Dr.
Campbell of Versailles had lately discovered that it was on this
continent, and near where St. Louis now stands. That gentleman,
according to the _Post_, asserted that the Mississippi River is the
Euphrates of Scripture, and that the Bible furnishes evidence of
the correctness of his conclusions.
"It is probable that Dr. Campbell is not aware of the fact that he
is not the discoverer of what he now announces, the Prophet Joseph
Smith having many years ago stated that the Garden of Eden was
located in what is now known as the State of Missouri. The Prophet
also pointed out the precise spot where Adam offered sacrifice to
the Lord, and where, as the great patriarchal head of the race,
he blessed his children previous to his departure from the earth.
That sacred spot in Missouri was designated by the Prophet as
Adam-ondi-Aham, the meaning of which is--the land where Adam dwelt."
My conclusion is this: If scientific men, by the evidences produceable
at this late day can indicate that the Garden of Eden was at or near
the place where St. Louis, Mo., now stands, the Lord, who originally
planted the garden himself, could designate the exact spot and tell
His prophet that that first garden, the original paradise of man, was
located in Jackson County, Mo., just 150 miles northwest of St. Louis.
In connection with this, I desire to relate a little experience of my
own. About two years ago, in company with Elders Edward Stevenson and
Joseph S. Black, I visited Adam-ondi-Ahman, in Missouri, and as we
stood upon the site of the altar that I have referred to and looked
over the beautiful valley lying south and east of us, I said to myself,
"Can it be possible that these stones--fragments of which I held in my
hand--were once parts of the altar upon which our first parent offered
sacrifice to God?"
I had previously listened to the testimony of Presidents Wilford
Woodruff, A. O. Smoot and other men of prominence and unimpeachable
character, to the effect that they were present with the Prophet Joseph
in 1838 when the glorious facts relating to that particular tract of
country were revealed. But I desired a direct testimony from the Lord
concerning the matter, and consequently made it a subject of prayer.
And I desire, on this occasion, to bear my testimony that I received
{105} an answer to my prayer sufficient to convince me that these
things are true.