 He said an angel first showed him the location of the plates in 1823, buried in a nearby hill, but he was not allowed to take the plates until 1827.Smith began dictating the text of The Book of Mormon around the fall of 1827 until the summer of 1828 when 116 pages were lost.Translation began again in April 1829 and finished in June 1829, saying that he translated it "by the gift and power of God".