When Ellen White returned to the United States from Australia in 1900, she carried in her heart the memory of visions given her in which she was shown that the time had come to establish sanitariums in southern California. With a widening knowledge of the advantages of southern California from a health standpoint because of its sunshine and warm climate, the area was becoming more and more popular for those who sought relief from the cold winters of the East and from their physical ailments.
After she reached America, visions relating to this matter were repeated to her. On October 13, 1902, she wrote:
I have been instructed that the work in southern California should have advantages that it has not yet enjoyed. I have been shown that in southern California there are properties for sale on which buildings are already erected that could be utilized for our work, and that such properties will be offered to us at much less than their original cost.--Letter 157, 1902 (Special Testimonies, Series B 14:6).
In these places, away from the din and confusion of the congested cities, we can establish sanitariums in which the sick can be cared for in the way in which God designs them to be.-- Ibid.
She wrote of the light that had been given her concerning the confusion and violence and crime that would increase, especially in the cities. She declared:
There is much to be said on this point. Instruction is to be given line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. And our physicians and teachers should be quick to see the advantage of retired locations for our sanitariums and schools.-- Ibid.
In August, 1901, as she was attending the Los Angeles camp meeting, this matter had weighed upon her mind, and she began to think in practical terms of securing properties. In a vision of the night, she seemed to be in a council meeting in which consideration was being given to establishing a sanitarium in southern California. She wrote of the vision:
By some it was urged that this sanitarium should be built in the city of Los Angeles, and the objections to establishing it out of the city were pointed out. Others spoke of the advantages of a country location.--Testimonies for the Church 7:85.
She described what she saw and heard in this vision and made mention of one who often instructed her at such times. "There was among us One who presented this matter very clearly and with the utmost simplicity. He told us that it would be a mistake to establish a sanitarium within the city limits."-- Ibid.
Her Instructor continued:
A sanitarium should have the advantage of plenty of land, so the invalids can work in the open air. For nervous, gloomy, feeble patients, outdoor work is invaluable. Let them have flower beds to care for. In the use of rake and hoe and spade they will find relief for many of their maladies. Idleness is the cause of many diseases.
Life in the open air is good for body and mind. It is God's medicine for the restoration of health. Pure air, good water, sunshine, the beautiful surroundings of nature--these are His means for restoring the sick to health in natural ways.-- Ibid.
Ellen White envisioned sanitariums in the country "surrounded by flowers and trees, orchards and vineyards. Here it is easy for physicians and nurses to draw from the things of nature lessons teaching of God. Let them point the patients to Him whose hand has made the lofty trees, the springing grass, and the beautiful flowers, encouraging them to see in every opening bud and blossoming flower an expression of His love for His children."--Ibid., 7:85, 86.
During the camp meeting itself, where she spoke daily, as noted earlier, she went out with some of the brethren to look at two prospective properties. She was instructed that not only in various sections of Los Angeles but in San Diego and in other tourist resorts in southern California, health restaurants and treatment rooms should be established.
This visit sparked the revival of concern for the medical missionary work throughout the world, but especially in southern California. It was not long until Ellen White and her staff at Elmshaven were working on drawing together counsel already given, and she prepared new counsel for the Testimonies for the Church, volume 7. Section Two, comprising fifty-nine pages, is given over to consideration of sanitarium work. Section Three, with twenty-eight pages, is devoted to the restaurant and health-food work.
Again, in September, 1902, Mrs. White was in southern California, attending the camp meeting. She was still interested in looking for properties that could be obtained at reasonable prices and used for sanitarium purposes. She went to San Fernando, where a property had been secured for school purposes at a reasonable price. After the camp meeting she went down to San Diego and twice visited the Potts Sanitarium property, six miles south of the city. The buildings had stood idle for years and the property was available for only a fraction of the original cost.
The Paradise Valley Property
Dr. T. S. Whitelock, who practiced in San Diego, had discovered this place in the spring of 1902. There were twenty acres of land and a building with nearly fifty rooms. The whole place could be obtained for $20,000. He eventually succeeded in getting the price down to $15,000. Officers of the Southern California Conference had visited this property and one at Pacific Beach, but felt that the Potts institution was the better buy. Nonetheless, they were not ready to devote conference funds to purchase it. In September, 1902, the manager of the Land and Town Company of National City became interested in the sanitarium project and took up correspondence with a Mr. Harrison in New York City, who held mortgages on the Potts property. They were able to reduce the price to $12,000.
This was the same month that Ellen White visited the property for the first time. She declared, according to Dr. Whitelock, "'If this place were fixed up, it ...[would look] just like what was shown me of the Lord.'"--DF 2a, T. S. Whitelock, "History of the Paradise Valley Sanitarium," p. 2.
Ellen White returned to her home at Elmshaven with no decisions made and no steps taken to secure the Potts property. The conference brethren felt they were not prepared to move forward.
At that time the Southern California Conference included all the southern part of the State south of the Tehachapi Mountains. The church had 1,100 believers there, but as the result of poor management a debt of $40,000 hung over the conference. Also, this was during the period when consideration was being given to the ownership, control, and management of sanitarium properties throughout North America. Those that had already been established were under the control of the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, over which Dr. Kellogg was so influential. With rifts developing at Battle Creek, it did not seem a good time to become involved in the securing of more sanitarium properties. However, Ellen White continued to watch the developments with interest and urged that appropriate steps be taken. Possibly the delay of the brethren was in the providence of God, for in June, 1903, the mortgages on the Potts property were offered to the church for $8,000 (Ibid., 3). To some, the hesitancy of the brethren to secure this property was the occasion for great distress. Leaders came and looked at it and declared that it was good, but went away with grave doubts concerning the future of that part of California, which was suffering a prolonged, severe drought. Properties were being offered at almost giveaway figures.
In January, 1904, Dr. Whitelock visited the property again. While he was there, a woman drove up and met them in the buildings. She introduced herself as a friend of the Mr. Harrison who held the mortgages. When Dr. Whitelock gave his name, she said, "You are the very one I wanted to see. I have been requested by Mr. Harrison to see you and get an offer on the mortgages." Then she intimated that she thought if church leaders were ready to buy, probably $6,000 would close the deal.
Still, the conference felt it could not invest money in the enterprise. When word reached Ellen White, she consulted with a close friend, Josephine Gotzian, who had some means, and then telegraphed Dr. Whitelock to offer $4,000 for the mortgages. On January 25 this offer was telegraphed to New York; on the twenty-seventh an answer was returned accepting the offer. A down payment was made to hold the property until the titles could be thoroughly investigated.
It was later learned that another party had offered Mr. Harrison, by letter, $6,000; the letter reached him in New York City only a few hours after the telegraphed offer of $4,000 had been accepted. The Potts property now belonged to Seventh-day Adventists, but not to the Southern California Conference.
Wrote Ellen White:
We are now beginning to see carried out the purposes of the Lord for this field.... For a long time, however, the medical missionary work in southern California was at a standstill, because of the unbelief of some. Suitable properties were found, but the brethren in responsibility would not advance.
A special opportunity came to us in the form of a property a few miles south of San Diego known as the Potts Sanitarium. The Lord had manifestly prepared the way for us to begin sanitarium work at this point; and when the wheel of providence turned in our favor, and the property came within our reach, we felt as if we must act without further delay, notwithstanding the hesitancy of brethren in responsibility, who should have been quick to discern the advantages of this place as a center for medical missionary work.--Special Testimonies, Series B 14:4, 5.
Ellen White Describes the Property
Now we will turn to Ellen White for a description of the property:
Here was a well-constructed, three-story building of about fifty rooms, with broad verandas, standing upon a pleasant rise of ground, and overlooking a beautiful valley. Many of the rooms are large and airy.... Besides the main building, there is a good stable, and also a six-room cottage, which can be fitted up for helpers.
The property is conveniently located, being less than seven miles from San Diego, and about a mile from the National City post office. There are twenty-two acres of land. About one half of this had once been planted to fruit trees, but during the long drought that this country has suffered, all the trees died except the ornamental trees and shrubbery around the buildings, and about seventy olive trees on the terraces.... I never saw a building offered for sale that was better adapted for sanitarium work. If this place were fixed up, it would look just like places that have been shown me by the Lord.-- Ibid., 8, 9.
Ellen White had borrowed her $2,000 share of the investment from the St. Helena Bank at 8 percent interest. Mrs. Gotzian had provided the other $2,000. The two women "clasped hands in an agreement to unite in helping to purchase the Potts Sanitarium (Letter 97, 1904). With funds that were put into the enterprise by Prof. E. S. Ballenger and his parents, they paid $300 in back taxes and used $800 to buy eight acres of needed land adjoining the property. There were other expenses that brought the total cost of the property to $5,300. Of course, the two women and the Ballenger family had no intention of keeping the property as theirs. Nor did they have any intention of making it a matter of financial speculation. They purchased it to hold it until the business could be organized and the conference could take control.
But with the property in their hands, the next step was to find someone to manage and develop it. For fifteen years it had been unoccupied, and there was a good deal to be done. Ellen White speaks of the next step:
Having secured the place, we needed a manager, and we found one ready for the work. Brother E. R. Palmer and his wife, who had spent the winter in Arizona, were in San Diego.... They were willing to take charge of the work of fitting up the sanitarium building for use.--The Review and Herald, March 16, 1905; (see Special Testimonies, Series B 14:10, 11).
The Palmers, whom Ellen White had known in Australia, arrived to take charge on April 18, 1904, the day Ellen White departed Elmshaven for her extended trip to Washington, D.C. From long range she watched with eagerness the reports of the developments in San Diego. Elder Palmer arranged to have the building wired for electricity and had it cleaned up and painted outside. Then he began to assemble furniture for the new Sanitarium.
He discovered that wealthy businessmen who went to California for the winter would rent a place and buy good-quality furniture for their use. When they wished to return to their homes in the East, the furniture was made available at very reasonable prices. Thus Palmer was able to secure furniture, some of it bird's-eye maple, for furnishing at least a portion of the new institution.
The New Well
A well and windmill furnished a limited supply of water, but it was known from the outset that the system could never supply the needs of a sanitarium. Palmer described the water situation: "The twenty-acre tract of land on which the building stands was as dry as the hills of Gilboa, with only a remote prospect for water underground."--DF 2a, E. R. Palmer, "The Paradise Valley Sanitarium."
Palmer and his fellow workers knew from their contacts with Ellen White that it was in the providence of God that the institution had been bought. They were confident that God would find a way to meet their needs. Still, through the summer of 1904 they suffered severely from the drought--a drought that had lasted eight or nine years (W. L. Johns and R. U. Utt, eds., The Vision Bold, p. 147). They watched the trees wither and die, and Ellen White wrote: "The poor, drying up, dying trees are beseeching us by their appearance for refreshing streams of water."--Manuscript 147, 1904. Palmer refers to their source of confidence in these words: "The Lord had spoken concerning these points, and His servants responded by purchasing the estate."--DF 2a, E. R. Palmer, "The Paradise Valley Sanitarium."
Ellen White recommended that Palmer obtain the services of a good Adventist well digger of her acquaintance, Salem Hamilton, who was then living in Nebraska. Accordingly, he was called west to dig the well. As Palmer related:
With what anxiety we surveyed the ground and tried the wizard water stick and discussed the possibilities....
Finally we chose a place and began digging down through the dry earth where the dust flew more than twenty feet below the surface.--Ibid.
The site selected was in a hollow just below the institution. Deeper and deeper Mr. Hamilton and his helpers continued to dig.
Ellen White, who was eager to be close to the Sanitarium activities, was able to pull herself away from Elmshaven and travel south, arriving at the Potts property on Monday, November 7. Hamilton had reached a depth of eighty feet on the well. From day to day she listened with interest to reports of progress, and frequently talked with Hamilton. One day she asked, "'What are you going to do, Brother Hamilton?'
"'I have a question to ask you,' he answered. 'If you will answer that, I will give you my answer. Did the Lord tell you to buy this property?'
"'Yes! Yes!' Ellen White replied. 'Three times I was shown that we should secure this particular property.'
"'All right,' Mr. Hamilton said, 'I have my answer. The Lord would not give us an elephant without providing water for it to drink.'"--Johns and Utt, eds., op. cit., p. 146. He declared that he would go on digging.
By now he was well past the eighty-foot level and there still was no sign of moisture. But one day Hamilton thought he heard the sound of a stream of water in the gravel at the bottom of the well. When Palmer visited the site and looked down the well, Brother Hamilton called up, "'Mr. Palmer, would you be afraid to come down? I think there is water not far away.'" Palmer did go down, and he heard it distinctly, "'like the tinkle of a bell or the sound of a small waterfall in the depths of a forest'" (Ibid., 146, 147).
Hamilton had tunneled in one direction, but to no avail. He now tunneled in another direction and with a vigorous blow his pick broke through the clay into a fine stream of water as large as a man's arm. The well quickly began to fill. There wasn't even time to get all the tools out. That night the water rose fifteen feet in the well (Ibid.).
Excitedly E. R. Palmer and W. C. White hastened to Ellen White's room to announce the good news. Writing of it the next day to her grandchildren, she said:
"Yesterday morning Brother Palmer came to my room in company with your father ... and told us there was fifteen feet of water in the well. This morning there is twenty feet of water and their tools at the bottom of the well. I cannot express to you how glad we all are made. Plenty of water for all purposes! This cannot be estimated by gold or by silver. Water means life.... The Lord has answered all our expectations, and we shall have reason for thanksgiving.... I want to praise the Lord with heart and soul and will."-- Ibid., 147.
Ellen White wrote in her diary:
The water is now a certainty. The trees shall have their refreshing portion. Brother Palmer was so pleased. He expressed his gratitude to God for this great blessing, that labor and money invested for machinery for the water plant had brought returns.--Manuscript 147, 1904.
Moving Forward Under Difficulties
At that time there were only four Seventh-day Adventist churches in the lower part of southern California, and not much support from the Conference as a whole to start a medical institution. The group at the Sanitarium set about to solicit the support of those churches--San Diego, Paradise Valley (a very small church), San Pasqual, and Escondido, where there were a number of Adventist farmers.
On the Thursday before the breakthrough in the well, W. C. White, E. S. Ballenger, H. E. Osborn, and Mrs. Josephine Gotzian drove twenty miles up to San Pasqual. Friday they visited some families, and Sabbath they held three services in the San Pasqual church. Sunday they went over to Escondido and again held three services, in which the providences of God in the starting of the Paradise Valley Sanitarium (as it was then called) and the needs were placed before the believers. Monday they spent visiting families in Escondido. They were able to raise $1,600 in cash to help carry the enterprise forward. Half that amount they were able to take home with them. They had also solicited material help that the farmers could provide from their land. They were very glad for the cash because in anticipation of a prosperous well Palmer had purchased an engine, pipes, and pumps, and he needed money to pay the overdue bill.
When the party returned from Escondido on Tuesday, they were met by the cheering report that the well diggers had found an abundant flow of pure water. A few days later a four-horse team drawing a large, heavy wagon drove up to the Sanitarium, bringing gifts from the churches of San Pasqual and Escondido. This timely donation included potatoes, squash, and canned fruit. Of special importance, the gift included two fine "Jersey cows" (Ibid., March 16, 1905).
That evening Sara McEnterfer told Sister White that two new "patients" had arrived. Somewhat in surprise Ellen White exclaimed, "'Where will they put them?'"
To this Sara replied, "'In the barn, I guess.'"--Letter 319, 1904. Then she explained the nature of the new four-footed guests.
One pump was not able to lower the level of the water in the well and so a second pump was brought in. The two large-capacity pumps were required to empty the well sufficiently to get the tools out and to dig just a little more to provide a reservoir for the water that poured in at a fantastic rate. What a blessing the well was!
While the leading workers of the new institution were discussing whether they should open its doors the last week in November or the first week in December, a Mrs. Julia Ulrich came unannounced on November 23 and insisted on staying. Ellen White noted:
Others came before we were ready, and patients continued to come till there were twenty, and our workers were kept so busy that there has been no time as yet for a formal opening.--The Review and Herald, March 16, 1905.
The class of patients who came to the institution was described by E. S. Ballenger:
A large proportion of them were people of culture and influence. Among them were judges, Senators, civil and army officers. These people are hungry for something they cannot find in the world and there is no better means of reaching them with the message than to gather them into our sanitariums where the Spirit of God prevails, where they may attend family worship, prayer meetings, and Sabbath services.
For the first two months after patients were admitted, all the treatments were given in a small room only about eight by thirteen feet. At times we were so crowded that some of the patients were obliged to wait until ten o'clock at night. These inconveniences were cheerfully endured as long as the guests knew we were unable to provide better, and knowing that we expected to build new bathrooms as soon as we were able.--DF 2a, E. S. Ballenger, "The First Patients at the Paradise Valley Sanitarium."
As to the organization for handling the business of the newly established Sanitarium, various propositions were made and discussed, and counsel was sought of the conference brethren. It was finally decided to establish a stock company, not for profit but for managing the business and to encourage those who could do so to make an investment in the institution. This plan was followed with some adjustments during the next two or three years until the Southern California Conference was in a position to take over the management and responsibility of the Paradise Valley Sanitarium.
Thus Ellen White, through the insights that came to her through the visions, through her persistence, through her soliciting, the cooperation of those who had confidence that the Lord was speaking through her and through heavy personal financial investment, led out in the establishment of this first Adventist sanitarium in southern California.
During the last three nights of her stay at Paradise Valley, she was given instruction by God in the visions of the night concerning the work in that part of the state:
During the last three nights of my stay at this institution, much instruction was given me regarding the sanitariums which for years have been greatly needed, and which should long ago have been equipped and set in working order. Medical missionary work is to be to the third angel's message as the right hand to the body.
Our sanitariums are one great means of doing medical missionary work. They are to reach the people in their need. The workers connected with our sanitariums are to be sympathetic, kind, and straightforward in their dealings with one another and with the patients. Their words and deeds are to be noble and upright. They are ever to receive from Christ light and grace and love to impart to those in darkness. By their efforts the sick, the sinful, the prodigals who have left the Father's house are to be encouraged to return.
God's word to these workers is, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." "Fear not, neither be discouraged: for I am thy God."--Special Testimonies, Series B 14:13.
Ellen White's seventy-seventh birthday came on Sabbath, November 26, when she was still at the Paradise Valley Sanitarium. In her journal she wrote,
I have not been able to sleep after 1:00 A.M. It is Sabbath.... I am this day 77 years old. I have thinking to do and I have reason to thank the Lord that He has spared my life. I am pleased that the Lord has favored me with His encouraging grace.... My labors have been quite taxing and the Lord has greatly blessed me.--Manuscript 147, 1904.
Then she wrote of what had been shown her, prefacing her statement with these words:
During the night season we were in council. After we were planning what we should do, there was One who spoke with clearness and laid out the work.-- Ibid.
This Spokesman stressed that Ellen White's special energies and capabilities were to be used in getting out the books that were essential for these last days, and that she was to place herself in the best possible position for health. According to her Instructor:
We must gather every distinct ray of light that will substantiate the truth, bearing aloft the banner for these last days, the third angel's message. The churches need to be set in order, the door of unbelief to be closed. The seducing power of Satan we are told will increase in such proportions that if it is possible he will deceive the very elect.-- Ibid.
In sadness she recorded the words:
Some are not making straight paths for their feet, and in consequence the weak will be turned out of the way. Let every soul take the warning....
There were many words spoken. Some words do not come to my mind until special occasions, then the words of caution and warning come. I shall have these warnings come to my mind with great power and force to rescue souls that are in peril but do not see themselves in any spiritual danger.-- Ibid.
A few days later she recorded:
I cannot sleep this morning after twelve o'clock.... I am drawn out in prayer to my heavenly Father for increased strength that I may present to the people the most precious and essential truth for this time and entreat all to preserve the old landmarks that have been searched out and under the demonstration of the Holy Spirit proclaimed to the world.-- Ibid.
Her mind turned back to 1848 when the foundations of the truths proclaimed by Seventh-day Adventists were drawn together in a body of teachings at the Sabbath conferences:
Many wonderful miracles have been worked in the searching for the truth as for hidden treasure, and the golden treasures of the Word have been substantiated by such remarkable demonstration of the Holy Spirit that all who have had an experience in the work of God since the Bible was opened to our understanding would be sinning against the Holy Ghost to deny the truth.-- Ibid.
A small army of painters invaded the main building at Paradise Valley to paint the entire interior. Ellen White felt that in the interests of her health she should leave. She decided to spend a few days at the Glendale Sanitarium, which had not yet opened. On her way to Paradise Valley in early November she had spent a weekend in Los Angeles, and while there had visited the new Glendale Sanitarium. She was delighted with what she found.