The river Sidon has a distinct and unique source called “the head of the river Sidon.” This physical feature is noted five places in the Book of Mormon text, including twice in Mormon’s detailed geographical account (Alma 22:27, 29; 43:22; 50:11; 56:25). The “head” of a river is correct terminology for a single water source and is not the same as headwaters. Headwaters are multiple tributary streams flowing together to form the source of a river. A head, on the other hand, describes a single and distinct water source fed by underground streams or springs that surface at one location to form the head of a river. Thus the phrase, “the head of the river Sidon,” identifies a specific type of water source formed by multiple springs. In the Book of Mormon account the head of the river Sidon is consistently described as a geographical feature one could readily go around, unlike an extensive tributary system of headwaters (Alma 43:22; 56:25). A singular head is not an uncommon feature of rivers, especially in dryer regions such as the Mediterranean climates of the Biblical lands and Baja California. The Sidon River in Lebanon, which appears to be the namesake of the river Sidon in the Book of Mormon, has a spring-fed head at its source, and the Jordan River in Israel is fed by multiple springs at its head, one near Caesarea Philippi at a historical fountain of water (Matt. 16:13; Mark 8:27; see also, An Analog to Sidon in Lebanon, below).

Small bodies of water are also called “fountains” in the Book of Mormon record. The waters of Mormon where Alma baptized in the land of Nephi are described as a “fountain of pure water” (Mosiah 18:5–30). The phrase, “pure water” appears elsewhere in the scriptures (Mosiah 23:4; Heb. 10:22; Rev. 22:1). Pure water describes water that comes from an uncontaminated source—like a spring—rather than water flowing in rivers and into lakes downstream. A fountain is a container or reservoir of water or other liquids, such as the small reservoir in a fountain pen—the place where ink is held. A baptismal font is a fountain containing water. The word font is the same as a fountain in this context. The word font in relationship to fountain is the same as the word mount is to mountain. Font can also be spelled fount. The word font in Latin refers to a “spring, fountain.” In nature, a spring and a fountain (a natural reservoir) often occur together. All of this would render “fountain of pure water” as a natural water body or reservoir at the source of pure or spring water. We have provided a rather lengthy description and definition of the word fountain. This may help in understanding its connotation in the Book of Mormon account, not only in parsing the phrases, “head of Sidon” and “fountain of pure water,” describing the waters of Mormon, but possibly its meaning in the phrase, “fountain of the Red Sea,” mentioned by Nephi (1 Ne. 2:9), and also the phrases “fountain of living waters” and “fountain of filthy water” in the vision of the tree of life recorded by Lehi and Nephi (1 Ne. 8:20, 32; 11:25; 12:16; see also, Morm. 6:4; Ether 8:26; 12:28; Moro. 7:11).

We should note the Book of Mormon record does not equate the “head” of a river or a “fountain” of water with the phrase, “many waters,” which refers to seas (1 Ne. 17:5; see, The Sea, Irreantum and “Many Waters,” in our topic article, From the Sea West to the Sea East). We also note that in none of the descriptions of the Book of Mormon lands is the word lake used to describe a body of water.

In Baja California, and especially in the central area of the peninsula, the main source of water is springs, not the typical system of tributaries with rivers and lakes, found in more humid lands. These springs flow directly into natural fountains or heads. In common with Al Awali (the Sidon River) of Lebanon and the River Jordan of Israel, the Rio San Ignacio has a striking and beautiful, elongated lagoon or fountain at its head. Directly fed by several springs, the water in this narrow lagoon runs from east to west, the same direction mentioned in Mormon’s account, “by the head of the river Sidon, running from the east towards the west,” faithfully matching this directional description (Alma 22:27).