Early in my readings as I began to question Mormonism I read a book that contained the following quotes from "Manuscript Found". This was written by Solomon Spaulding who died in 1816. The following text is just too close to Joseph Smith's description of finding the golden plates to be a coincidence:

“NEAR the west Bank of the Coneaught River there are the remains of an ancient fort. As I was walking and forming various conjectures respecting the character situation & numbers of those people who far exceeded the present Indians in works of art and inginuety, I hapned to tread on a flat stone. This was at a small distance from the fort, it lay on the top of a great small mound of Earth exactly horizontal. The face of it had a singular appearance. I discovered a number of characters, which appeared to me to be letters, but so much effaced by the ravages of time, that I could not read the inscription. With the assistance of a leaver I raised the stone. But you may easily conjecture my astonishment when I discovered that its ends and sides rested on stones & that it was designed as a cover to an artificial Cave. I found by examining that its sides were lined with stones built in a connical form with down, & that it was about eight feet deep. Determined to investigate the design of this extraordinary work of antiquity, I prepared myself with the necessary requisites for that purpose and descended to the Bottom of the Cave. Observing one side to be perpendicular nearly three feet from the bottom, I began to inspect that part with accuracy. Here I noticed a big flat stone fixed in the form of a doar.

I immediately tore it down and lo, a cavity within the wall presented itself; it being about three feet in diameter from side to side and about two feet high. Within this cavity I found an earthen box with a cover which shut it perfectly tight. The box was two feet in length one and half in breadth and one and three inches in diameter. My mind filled with awful sensations which crowded fast upon me (( and )) would hardly permit my hands to remove this venerable deposit, but curiosity soon gained the ascendancy (( and )) the box was taken and raised to open (( its cover. )) When I had removed the cover I found that it contained twenty-eight (( rolls )) of parchment; and that when (( examined )) appeared to be manuscripts written in elegant hand with ROMAN letters and in the Latin Language. They were written on a variety of subjects. But the roll which principally attracted my attention contained a history of the author's life and that part of America which extends along the Great Lakes and the waters of the Mississippi. Extracts of the most interesting and important matters contained in this roll I take the liberty to publish. Gentle Reader, tread lightly on the ashes of the venerable dead. Thou must know that this country was once inhabited by great and powerful nations, considerably civilized and skilled in the arts of war; and that on ground where thou (( now )) treadest many a bloody battle hath been fought, and heroes by thousands have been made to bite the dust.”

I read "Who Really Wrote The Book Of Mormon" and I've wondered if it would be possible to re-construct Solomon Spalding's lost "Manuscript Found" from the "Book of Mormon."

And another one bites the dust.

I also have a copy of this document and believe me when I state that was not the only idea Joe Jr. took from Spaulding!

thedesertrat1 Wrote:
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> I also have a copy of this document and believe me
> when I state that was not the only idea Joe Jr.
> took from Spaulding!

That is the truth. I first ran into this document when I was still very much a TBM. It was one of those many moments in this process when several puzzle pieces fell into place. I was shocked and amazed.

Why does there need to be a "source" for this?

Suppose you are making up a story about something preserved
since 421 C.E. until 1827 C.E. Now how are you going to
preserve it? Wrapped in leather? Nah, leather decomposes.
Wood? Nah, wood decomposes. Iron? Nah, Iron rusts.

Gee, what kind of container would you think of to preserve
whatever it is that you'd want to preserve? Stone seems to be
the obvious thing. It's obvious for both Spaulding and for
Joseph Smith.

Now the question is, if this stone box was real, where is it?
It was on the Hill Cumorah so it shouldn't be too hard to
find. The plates, which contained the scripture and which
nobody was allowed to see except a few of Joseph Smith's
hand-picked followers under unknown conditions, were supposedly
taken up to heaven. But where is this stone box? It can't be
that hard to find . . . if it really existed, that is.