Orson Pratt on the Location of the Garden of Eden

In a sermon dated December 27, 1868, Orson Pratt was recorded as saying the following. Note how he was not dogmatic about the location of the Garden of Eden:

The very first man who had dominion on the face of the earth, under the direction of the Heavens, once dwelt on this Continent. His name was Adam. Whether his first residence was on this land, whether the garden that was planted for his occupation was on this Continent, or some other, is not revealed in any written or printed revelation. But he certainly did, in the course of his lifetime, either from this being his native land, or by emigration, actually come in possession of this part of the globe; and a large settlement was formed, and the righteous who lived before the flood inherited it, and no doubt, left their blessing on the land.  (JOD 12:338)

While affirming the common view of the time concerning Pangea, Orson Pratt (October 11, 1874) elsewhere admitted again that the location of the Garden of Eden had not been revealed:

 

Where was that valley in which that grand patriarchal gathering was held? It was about fifty, sixty or seventy miles north of Jackson County, Missouri, where the Zion of the latter days will be built. Where the garden of Eden was is not fully revealed; where Adam eat the forbidden fruit is not revealed so far as I know, that is, the particular location on the earth, no revelation informs us where he passed the first few centuries of his life; but suffice it to say that, when Adam was about six or seven hundred years old there was a great gathering of the people Enoch, the seventh from Adam, who lived contemporary with his old ancestor, and others who were called by him, went forth and gathered out the righteous from all the nations, and as there was no Atlantic Ocean in those days rolling between the eastern and western continents, they could gather together by land from Asia, Africa and Europe. In those days the earth was not divided as it was after the flood, in the days of Peleg. (JOD 17:87)