In a book published in 2003, Arza Evans wrote the following against the geography of 1 Nephi:
Imaginary Geography
The Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea is
one of the oldest inhabited areas on earth. If there had been a river flowing into
the Red Sea at this point, there would probably have been a major city located
there, just as there was where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers flowed into the
Persian Gulf. The River Laman has never existed except in the fertile imagination
of Joseph Smith.
. . .
Bountiful
Then another incredible thing happened
to Lehi and his family. They found themselves in a land with “much fruit” and “wild
honey.” Lehi named this place “Bountiful.” Strangely, this fertile area on the
Persian Gulf, just south of Babylonia, the cradle of civilization, was
uninhabited! Why hadn’t anyone ever discovered this remarkable Garden of Eden?
Bountiful also happened to have iron ore, coal, tar, timber, and all of the
other things that Nephi would need to make tools and construct a ship that
could sail half way around the world. (Arza Evans, The Keystone of Mormonism
[Ashland, Ohio: Keystone Books, Inc., 2003], 32, 34-35)
Sadly for Evans, the River of Laman/Valley of Lemuel and Boutiful were discovered before he published his book (see Jeff Lindsay's summary of these issues, for e.g.) The Astons, for e.g., published their book In the Footsteps of Lehi in 1994 (documenting NHM and Bountiful). To quote Cheryl Tunt: womp womp
