On 18 May, Joseph Smith and a small company of men set out from Far West on an exploratory mission to Daviess County to locate other areas for possible future Mormon settlement. The following day, 19 May, the company arrived at the homesite of Lyman Wight, who lived near the base of a gentle slopping hill, called “Spring Hill” by the Latter-day Saints who had settled in the region.[27] On this occasion, George W. Robinson, Smith’s clerk, recorded a significant entry in the Prophet’s journal regarding the area: “Spring Hill a name appropriated by the bretheren [sic] present, But afterwards named by the mouth of [the] Lord and was called Adam Ondi Awmen [Adam-ondi-Ahman], because said he it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of days shall sit as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet” (fig. 8).[28] The entry is significant for two reasons. First, it marks the first time that Joseph Smith identified the location where Adam-ondi-Ahman was actually located; and second, it specified that the “Ancient of days” spoken of by Daniel was none other than Father Adam, who, at a future day, would appear at Adam-ondi-Ahman to a gathering of faithful Saints in fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy (see Daniel 7:9–10, 13–14). After identifying the region, the Prophet spent a few more days surveying the area, then returned to Far West, where he arrived on 24 May.[29]

On this same occasion Joseph Smith also stated that his company discovered the remains of “an old Nephitish Alter [sic] an[d] Tower.” It is important to note that the account given in the Prophet’s published history has been altered and incorrectly identifies that what they discovered on this occasion was “an old Nephite altar or tower”—the word Nephite replacing Nephitish, suggesting that the remains originated with the Nephite civilization in the Book of Mormon.[30] To add to the confusion, later accounts given by some of the Prophet’s contemporaries incorrectly identified the structure as being an altar constructed by Adam. But Joseph Smith’s record does not describe it as being Nephite or Adamic. The entry made by Robinson simply states that the company discovered the remains of an ancient (“old”) Native American Indian (“Nephitish”) structure of some kind (fig. 9).[31]