The river Sidon appears late on the Book of Mormon scene. After living nearly 400 years in the land of Nephi, the Nephites “departed out of the land [of Nephi] into the wilderness, as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord,” and they were led northward “by the power of his arm, through the wilderness until they came down into the land which [was] called the land of Zarahemla,” which bordered on the river Sidon (Omni 1:13; Alma 2:15). The land of Nephi, their previous home, was south of the narrow strip of wilderness, and a journey of “many days” north of the “land of first inheritance,” the place of their landing following a long ocean voyage. After many “serious” wars in the land of Nephi, “the more wicked part of the Nephites were destroyed” (Omni 1:5), and the more righteous Nephites abandoned their troubled homeland under the direction of king Mosiah (the first), the father of king Benjamin, and departed northward into the wilderness seeking a refuge (Omni 1:12).

During this epic migration, Mosiah’s group traversed the difficult narrow strip of wilderness where subsequent travelers “suffered hunger, thirst, and fatigue” (Mosiah 7:16). This is the first recorded journey through the narrow strip of wilderness and apparently the first encounter of the Nephites with the people of Zarahemla (the Mulekites), for the record states,“they discovered a people, who were called the people of Zarahemla” (Omni 1:14). The phrase, “they came down into the land,” of Zarahemla implies the land of Zarahemla and the river Sidon were in a lowland basin location, lower than the wilderness at the northern end of the narrow strip of wilderness.

The route of this northward migration of Mosiah and his followers is not explicitly recorded. The Lamanites later pursued the Nephites to the land of Zarahemla and eventually occupied the western coastal area near this same wilderness (Omni 1:24). This would suggest a western route followed the more-favorable lowlands near the sea on the west of the peninsula through the narrow strip of wilderness, the same western areas later occupied by the idle Lamanites (Alma 22:28).

When the Nephites, under king Mosiah (the first), arrived in the land of Zarahemla and the river Sidon area, the account states:

Why did the Nephites permanently converge into the same city and land with the people of Zarahemla (the Mulekites) and not seek an independent settlement site in another location for their capital and religious center? They had already escaped warfare in the land of Nephi with the Lamanites and internecine conflicts with their own people, so why move into a stranger’s land and city as a minority? As Mormon states, “there were not so many of the children of Nephi, or so many of those who were descendants of Nephi, as there were of the people of Zarahemla, who was a descendant of Mulek, and those who came with him into the wilderness” (Mosiah 25:2–3). Certainly the people of Zarahemla—who arrived before the Nephites—could have suggested other areas with suitable rivers for settlement. We propose this as an answer: There were no other nearby river basins. In the extended land of Zarahemla to the north of the narrow strip of wilderness, there was only one significant watercourse—the river Sidon. Even the people of Zarahemla had moved south from “the place of their first landing” into “the south wilderness” of this river Sidon area (Alma 22:30–31). There was no other choice for either group. And this situation underscores why there is only one named river in Mormon’s entire abridgment of the Nephite record.