In 1999, the Zarahemla Research Foundation (RLDS) finished an exhaustive review of all known manuscripts and editions of the Book of Mormon in order to restore the text "to its purity." The result was the Restored Covenant Edition of the Book of Mormon. One of their "restorations" involves the geographical place name "Morianton" (Alma 50:25), which they have changed to read "Morionton." [Zarahemla Research Foundation, "Geography Concordance" in The Book of Mormon: Restored Covenant Edition, p. 1006]
Note* This must be considered tentative subject to the verification of Royal Skousen, director of the Book of Mormon manuscript project, who will not comment at this time relative to such changes. [Personal communication, 11/22/1999]
Geographical [Theory Map]: Alma 50:25 Cities of Lehi and Morianton (24th Year)
“A Contention Concerning the Land of Lehi and the Land of Morianton”
The cities of Lehi and Morianton were joined at their borders (Alma 50:25). Since the city of Lehi was "in the north" (Alma 50:15), then the city of Morianton was probably located near there also. Both were by the east seashore (Alma 51:26). If the sequence of cities listed in Alma 51:26 is chronological, as Amalickiah is taking cities along the coast, then the city of Morianton seems to have been north of the city of Lehi, and both of the cities appear to have been south of the cities of Omner, Gid and Mulek.
Alma 50:26 says that the people of Morianton "did claim a part of the land of Lehi; therefore there began to be a warm contention between them." One might wonder why these two cities were fighting over a boundary line when the whole region of the east wilderness was just beginning to be settled? Were there limited resources? According to John Sorenson, if a local "land" included a territory of a size that farmers could go to their fields and return the same day after work, as is the case in many horticulture based societies, then a radius of five miles is logical. In this case of overlapping land use, the cities probably were less than ten miles apart. (Setting, p. 264)
But still, why the unsolvable contention?