Mosiah 19:2-23 (between 145 and 122 B.C.)

Soon after Alma’s group fled into the wilderness to escape the army of king Noah, the neighboring Lamanites attacked king Noah’s people in the land of Nephi. In response, king Noah “commanded the people that they should flee before the Lamanites, and he himself did go before them, and they did flee into the wilderness, with their women and their children” (Mosiah 19:9). While the people of king Noah were fleeing, the Lamanites “did overtake them, and began to slay them” (Mosiah 19:10). This would suggest that the wilderness they fled to was close to the city of Nephi where the people of king Noah lived, and probably in a location to the north, because the Lamanite locations were south and west of that city.

King Noah, showing little concern for his people, “commanded them that all the men should leave their wives and their children, and flee before the Lamanites” (Mosiah 19:11). This group of cowardly men, led by king Noah and his priests, escaped farther into the wilderness where they were able to hide, suggesting again that this area of the narrow strip of wilderness was a rugged and canyon-like landscape, with many hidden arroyos.


The distance king Noah and his fleeing people traveled is not recorded, but they would have had to journey far enough to hide from their attackers, likely in a location that was not previously or widely known. Within days, king Noah and his priests and some of the men who followed him began to fight amongst themselves over the situation of leaving their families to fend for themselves. During this infighting, king Noah was burned at the stake, just as Abinadi had prophesied, by the angry and disgusted men that followed him into the wilderness (Mosiah 19:20 and footnote). The priests, fearing their fate would be like king Noah’s punishment, eventually “fled from them farther into the wilderness” where they lived a secluded life in a place they called Amulon (Mosiah 19:2-23; 23:31-32).

We propose the wilderness mission sites and valleys of Misión La Purísima Concepción de Cadegomó (La Purísima); Misión San Jose de Comondú (Comondú) as possible secluded locations for the fleeing priests of king Noah. These isolated Spanish missions were founded by the Jesuits in the early 1700s. The valleys are located some 60 miles to the north of the proposed land of Mormon and some 25 miles—a two-day journey—to the north of the proposed location for the land of Helam (San Javier). These distances match the Book of Mormon account and the locations and travel routes in Baja California. Today, both La Purísima and Comondú have a population of several hundred people in beautiful secluded valleys of pure water, flocks, and tilled land. These three mission sites are the only settlements within this wilderness area of Baja California, and in the Book of Mormon account only a few Nephite settlement areas were located within the southern extent of the narrow strip of wilderness.