The city of Desolation was said to be "in the borders" of the land (Mormon 3:5). Mormon 3:6-7 speaks about placing armies there to prevent the Lamanites (on the south) from getting possession of any more Nephite land. If the city of Desolation was in the land of Desolation, it probably was located at the southward extremity of the land Desolation, which was also probably the southward extremity of the land northward. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes] [See Geographical Theory Maps]
A City Which Was in the Borders by the Narrow Pass City of Desolation
In the year 360 A.S., Mormon caused that his people "should gather themselves together at the land Desolation, to a city which was in the borders, by the narrow pass which led into the land southward" (Mormon 3:5).
According to John Sorenson's Mesoamerican theory, the city of Desolation would have been near the modern city of Minatitlan. Mormon 3:7 says that the Lamanites "did come down to the city of Desolation" to battle. The Lamanites apparently came out of highland Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico. The battle must have been at the ford across the Coatzacoalcos River, a dozen miles up from its mouth. [John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, p. 345]
According to David Palmer, movement through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on the Gulf of Mexico side of the divide is extremely difficult unless the ridge running from Acayucan past Minatitlan is followed. Elsewhere the area is too swampy for travel. In fact, going back through time, it appears that there never have been trade routes crossing the isthmus in a true east-west direction except along that ridge and along the Pacific side. Modern roads are . . . not dissimilar from ancient trade routes. According to Zeitlin (1979:168), both the Pan American and trans-Isthmian highways" . . . closely parallel ancient paths of trade and communication." There are some Nephite-period ruins overlooking the road between Acayucan and Minatitlan. [David A. Palmer, In Search of Cumorah, p. 31]