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Show any factors which might prevent ~/¢~·~;~~ or control the distribution of a Monnon folk story are nsgligible. ""here are few non.nt.oanon towns in Utah, that is, tcmns having a noticeable minority of Church members. Monticello, Green River, and Price a~e perhaps the best exa.Iq)les. Yet enterprising collectors have found stories in bot-h Green River and Price. The distribution of stories was studied with a view to determin~g whether the Nephites tended to renain on the main-traveled roads, but again no pattern could be found that ~uld support such a generalization. Whereas the exper-iences occurred most fre:tuently in the more populous centers, we get them also from~~ Escalante (No. 126), Wabwa Springs (Nos. 1 and 112), and Bluff (No. 113), Which are as remote as possible from ordinary traffic. The episodes, a.s plotted on the map (Fig. 1, page ) are clustered according to the population pattern of Utah, with barren areas corresponding to mcn:mtain s or desert wastes or regions where no collecting was attempted. Regarding geographical distribution oft base tales, therefore, one can only say that Nephi te experiences, ~;~/ like gold, are Where you find them. This conclusion agrees with the basic concept of the stories: that the Nepbites have miraculous mobility and ma.y aT'Pear anywhere at any time to anyone wortby of their visit. It is ~u.a.lly difficult, beca:use of their great trobility, to establish a significant pattern of the places in which Nephite stories are told. An experience al l egedly occurring at Wahwa Springs and r ' iJ ) heard in Kanosh is told in Salt Lake City by a transcient worlanan who might be in Provo next month and 'Abo may do his Terrple work in Logan. That the stories are told more freluent ly in the populous areas, a circumstance which indicates a movement inward. to\\S.rd Salt Lake City as a eentero, is due more to facilities of publication and other |
