Like the school of the prophets in the day of Elisha, where the place where they dwelt became "too strait" for them, the school at Healdsburg by 1908 found itself needing room to breathe and grow. Under the adverse circumstances the attendance was dropping and financial losses were heavy. The school building was now closely surrounded by the town, and the "boarding house" three blocks up the street was being choked by nearby residential housing. When built, the boarding house, on a five-acre tract of land, was in the country, and it had been planned that as funds were available, more land surrounding it would be purchased. But money was scarce, so part of the original acreage was sold. Houses soon sprang up. M. E. Cady, one-time president of Healdsburg College, said that Ellen White was once heard to comment, "While men slept, the enemy sowed houses."--DF 153a, M. E. Cady, Founder's Day Address, 1947.
The college home, or boarding house, was a three-story building with kitchen and laundry in the basement, dining room, parlor, and president's quarters on the first, or main, floor. Young women occupied the second floor and young men the third. The president and his wife served as preceptor and preceptress.
Ellen White, who with W. C. White had led out in founding the college in 1882, was deeply interested in its welfare. About the time the college opened she bought a home a few blocks distant and made Healdsburg her headquarters. Since returning from Australia, she often visited the school, spoke to the students and faculty, and watched with interest the welfare of the institution. With the successful starting of the Avondale school in Australia in a country location, both Ellen White and conference constituency thought in terms of moving the college away from a crowded town to a place where the students would have "more opportunity to engage in agriculture, carpentering, and other lines of manual work" (Letter 141, 1904). At the California Conference session held in February, 1908, a comprehensive resolution was passed calling for the disposal of the school properties in Healdsburg and establishing "an industrial college" in the country that would provide work for students and "furnish at least the agricultural and dairy products necessary for the college home" (Pacific Union Recorder, February 27, 1908). The Educational Society, which carried legal control, took official action to this effect three weeks later on March 19.
It was hoped that a property could be located rather quickly so that it could open in the fall on the new site. Consequently conference officials and Ellen White and her staff were on the constant lookout for a suitable place, perhaps with a building on it that could be put to immediate use. At the well-attended Oakland camp meeting in early June, a special session of the California Conference was called. Here on June 9, after considerable discussion and a divided vote, plans to close Healdsburg College were approved and a committee of seven appointed to search for a new site. W. C. White, as well as conference officers, was on this committee. From time to time various sites were examined. In August, a property near Sonoma came to the attention of conference officers. This property, two or three miles north of the town of Sonoma, consisted of 2,900 acres of land, hills, mountains, valleys, and flatlands. On it was a spacious three-story, thirty-eight room mansion called "The Castle" (36 WCW, p. 725; S. N. Haskell to EGW, August 13, 1908). Since the property was less than a mile from a tiny Western Pacific Railway station called Buena Vista, that was the name used in designating it for inspections and negotiations. The estate had been developed by a millionaire, a Mr. Johnson, about twenty-five years earlier, but soon after he had built and furnished the house, and landscaped the grounds with ornamental and fruit trees, he died. His heir squandered his inherited fortune, and the property was sold at auction. Currently it was owned by a Frenchman named Cailleaud (H. W. Cottrell to WCW, March 31, 1909), who felt he had too many land investments and wanted to sell this one. Hetty Haskell, wife of the conference president, described it as "a second Loma Linda, the finest thing we have seen anywhere" (Mrs. S. N. Haskell to EGW, August 13, 1908).
The Haskells reported that the house and grounds needed a little outside repair and paint, as the mansion had been neglected for some time, but inside it was in perfect condition. Some of its thirty-eight rooms were large enough to be divided, and that made the building even more adaptable to school use. All the bathroom fixtures were marble, and there was even a large bell at the back of the house, which, Mrs. Haskell observed, "would be just the thing for schoolwork."
The grounds were well laid out and decorated with acres of flower gardens. The long entrance drive way was lined with trees, and the orchards boasted five kinds of plums and five varieties of peaches, and there were lemons, oranges, date palms, and chestnuts.
A stone winery on the place was currently being used as a cow shed for a large dairy (S. N. Haskell to EGW, August 13, 1908).
Ellen White Visits the Buena Vista Property
On Wednesday morning, September 2, the day after she had gone north following her five-week stay in southern California, Ellen White, with some members of the committee on school location, visited the Buena Vista property. Writing of the experience, she reported:
We found the Castle to contain three stories, with twelve spacious rooms on each floor, besides a basement, and a large cupola above the third story capable of being converted into good rooms.--Letter 322, 1908.
She went up to the second floor and inspected the rooms and reported that she "had little to say. I believed that here was a property that corresponded with representations given me."-- Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
Remembering the Loma Linda experience where she recognized the buildings when she came onto the grounds, everyone quite naturally was eager to hear whether the Lord had given Ellen White direct light that this was the site to be purchased. Earlier she had written to Elder Haskell:
I have had three buildings presented before me which I have not seen with my natural eyes. Two of these were in the Southern field, and one in California.--Letter 240, 1908.
On leaving the grounds she felt impressed "that this was just such a location for our school as we had been looking for" (Letter 322, 1908). As to the suitability of the property, she noted that the tract of land was large, "away from the cities, where we could have an abundance of water and wood, and a healthful climate" (Ibid.). The well-furnished house with "every convenience" was also an important factor (Letter 324, 1908). But she failed to identify the building as one shown to her.
Back in Oakland that night, Ellen White was given instruction. Of this she wrote:
That night in my dreams I seemed to be making plans in regard to this property. One spoke to me and said, "How were you impressed with this location?" I replied, "Favorably; but I do not see how we can purchase; we have not the means. We might lessen the price by selling the stone winery."
"You cannot do that," our advisor said. "If you should do so, parties who do not regard the seventh day would be at work on the land on the Sabbath. Your only plan will be to purchase the entire property, and keep every part of it under your control. Not one foot of the land should be allowed to come under the control of those who would work it on the Sabbath day."--Letter 322, 1908.
The next morning Elder W. H. Covell, a member of the California Conference staff, and a man much interested in the Buena Vista property, brought a map to Sister White showing the property and adjacent lands. He began pointing out pieces of property that might be sold to lessen the total cost of the investment. But Ellen White, thinking of the vision given her only hours before, informed him, "We must have the land under our full control."-- Ibid.
At this point an interesting factor interjected itself. The committee members could easily see that Ellen White favored securing the property, but she did not have a "Thus saith the Lord" that this particular property should be secured. Further, she perceived that responsible committees made up of qualified men of experience must make the decision based on principles involved.
On Sunday morning, September 13, after a wakeful night, she wrote to Elder Haskell, who was now attending a camp meeting in Fresno, that she was afraid that she might be taking too great a responsibility in the matter. She declared:
I do not feel that I want the decision of this question to rest with me. I had only a hasty view of the place at Buena Vista, and while it corresponds to a place that had been shown me, I do not want you to feel that you must secure it on that account....
I shall leave this matter to be settled by the committee, and if they decide unfavorably regarding this place, I shall wait patiently until something further is offered where we can be supplied with water and woodlands. What we need is mountain advantages, where we can have an abundance of pure soft water that is not poisoned by the schemes of men.--Letter 256, 1908. (Italics supplied.)
The Basis for Final Decisions
This experience, and her communications about it, points up an interesting facet of her work. With a judgment enriched by the many visions God gave to her, she was influential in the making of important decisions, but never were the visions to take the place of study, initiative, faith, or hard work on the part of all concerned. The visions were not given to take the place of careful investigation and decision making. Nor were her opinions, in the absence of special light, to be taken as authoritative.
In the case of Loma Linda three years earlier, she recognized the buildings when she reached the grounds, and she was very positive that the church should buy that particular property. But even then she left the final decisions with the committees and constituencies. In principle the Buena Vista property had most of the qualifications she had repeatedly set forth as desirable for a college. But that this was the precise place that should be secured she was not prepared to say, and could only declare that it "corresponds to a place that had been shown me" (Ibid.).
An Important Principle Illustrated
A few months later she made certain points clear as she wrote:
There are times when common things must be stated, common thoughts must occupy the mind, common letters must be written and information given that has passed from one to another of the workers. Such words, such information, are not given under the special inspiration of the Spirit of God. Questions are asked at times that are not upon religious subjects at all, and these questions must be answered. We converse about houses and lands, trades to be made, and locations for our institutions, their advantages and disadvantages.--Selected Messages 1:39.
In this connection she stated:
When the Holy Spirit reveals anything regarding the institutions connected with the Lord's work, or concerning the work of God upon human hearts and minds, as He has revealed these things through me in the past, the message given is to be regarded as light given of God for those who need it. But for one to mix the sacred with the common is a great mistake.--Ibid., 1:38.
So it was with the Buena Vista property. The principles that should guide in the selection of a site for a college were made clear, and any one of several places might have fitted these guidelines. In the absence of special light, Ellen White had to judge the same as her brethren as to the suitability of the property being investigated.
Delay Added to Delay
Thus the matter lay for several months. Ellen White herself felt that the Buena Vista property should be secured. Instruction was given her in vision concerning certain contingencies; yet she seemed to approach the matter with caution and a little uncertainty. She encouraged her brethren, however, to move on sound lines in acquiring the property.
At the camp meeting in Fresno in late September, a special session of the constituency was held to consider, among other things, the matter of the college. The advantages and disadvantages of various sites were reviewed, and it was decided to accept whatever site might be chosen as long as the committee followed its best judgment and would be counseled by the Spirit of Prophecy.
Almost immediately definite steps were taken to purchase the Buena Vista property. The agreement was that 2,900 acres would be purchased for $35,000 and the Healdsburg College properties. Only one thing remained--the owners must produce a proper abstract and clear title (36 WCW, p. 725).
But delay followed delay, and although Ellen White entertained some anxiety about securing the property, she wrote on December 12, "I have not one question or doubt in regard to the purchase of the Sonoma property."--Letter 344, 1908. The next day, writing to an old friend, she said, "I am so thankful that we are to have this place for our school."--Letter 356, 1908.
But as the year 1908 came to a close, matters were still in an unsettled condition. "We have been waiting for the abstract to be made out," wrote Ellen White on December 29, "but there is a delay as important papers were destroyed at the time of the San Francisco earthquake."--Letter 4, 1909.
This was the state of the matter when time came for the regular session of the California Conference, held February 3-10, 1909, in Oakland. At a meeting of the constituency on February 6, Ellen White spoke of the school matter, reporting that she had visited several sites, Buena Vista among them, the one with "most precious advantages." There "was abundance of land for cultivation, and the water advantages were very valuable. All through the mountains there were little valleys where families might locate and have a few acres of land for garden or orchard."--Manuscript 9, 1909.
She stated again that the property "corresponds to representations made to me as an ideal location for our school more perfectly than anything else I have seen.... I have wished that we might come quickly into possession of the property. But," she added, "there was some advantage in delay, because we now have more time to raise the money to pay for the place."-- Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
In the meantime, feverish speculation in land surrounding the Buena Vista property began to develop and became so acute that on April 6, the California Conference Association took an action, published in the Pacific Union Recorder, April 8, 1909:
That we hereby disapprove of the entire speculative course of all such of our brethren as are involved in such transactions, and that we recommend that all profits accruing from any deals heretofore made be turned over to the college treasury.
The knowledge that Ellen White favored securing the Buena Vista estate added fuel to the fire, and some sizable tracts of land were purchased by Adventists confident of gaining large and quick returns on their investment.
When the transcript for the property finally was available, it was found that there were twenty-two defects in the title, some serious. The owner, in spite of his earlier promises, refused to do anything about it. Ellen White, when her counsel was sought, declared: "Tell them to put us in possession of the place, or to hand us back our money."--Manuscript 65, 1909.
While she was in the midst of the General Conference session in Washington in May, 1909, the deposit on the Buena Vista property was returned.
"Then we knew not just what to do," she said, "although in the dreams of the night the assurance was given that we must not become discouraged; if we could not obtain the Buena Vista place, there would be a more advantageous place for our school."--Letter 187, 1909.
The Angwin Property a Better Place
Elder Haskell, president of the California Conference, recalled:
When word came to us at Washington, D.C., that the trade could not be completed because of errors in the title and other reasons, the servant of the Lord said, "If this cannot be obtained, it is because the Lord has a better place for us."--Pacific Union Recorder, September 2, 1909.
With the time for the opening of school nearing, and now with considerable funds in hand for the purchase of a school property, the locating committee began a new search. In July, Elder H. W. Cottrell, president of the Pacific Union Conference and a member of the committee on school location, found what he considered the ideal place. S. N. Haskell wrote of it to Ellen White, who was on her protracted return journey from Washington, D.C., to California. It was Angwin's resort hotel atop Howell Mountain, about four miles beyond St. Helena Sanitarium. The property seemed most promising. So sure were the brethren that this place met, more fully than any other they had seen or perhaps could ever find, the qualifications for a college site held before them by Ellen White, that negotiations to purchase for $60,000 were commenced at once. It was with restless difficulty that they awaited Ellen White's return home in early September, to gain her full support in the steps taken.
After an absence of five months and four days, Ellen White reached her Elmshaven home on Thursday afternoon, September 9, ill and exhausted. The high altitude endured in crossing the Sierras, it seemed, almost cost her her life, and she was debilitated. Camp meeting was in progress in Fruitvale, a suburb of Oakland, and her presence was desired there. All were eager, first of all, for her to visit the Angwin school site without delay. She was too. So on Friday morning, although ill-prepared to do so, she insisted on driving the five miles past the Sanitarium and up the narrow, rocky road to the top of Howell Mountain to see the property everyone was excited about.
Ellen White Describes the New School Property
Ellen White described what she found at Angwin in letters to Edson and Mabel. Selections from both letters tell the full story:
The night we arrived at home we received a message asking us to go up the following day to see the property that had been purchased for the Pacific College. The brethren thought that this property possessed many advantages over that at Buena Vista, and as the owner of the Buena Vista place could not give us a clear title, it was thought advisable to purchase this. We left home early on the morning of September 10, driving in my easiest carriage. It was a five-mile climb to the top of the hill; then when about one mile from the property the country became more level.
Elder [C. W.] Irwin met us at the place and showed us something of the grounds and buildings. As we drove along I marked the advantages over the Buena Vista property. True, there was not here the fine costly building that we found on the Sonoma property, but there were a number of buildings in good repair, and such as could be easily adapted to the needs of the school. The largest of the dwellings was a house of thirty-two rooms [the resort hotel], and in addition to this there were four cottages. All the rooms were well planned, and substantially but not extravagantly furnished. Everything about houses and grounds looked clean and wholesome.--Letter 110, 1909.
Many advantages came to us in the house furnishings. The beds were all supplied with two good mattresses, one hair mattress and one of cotton wool, feather pillows and woolen blankets, some of which are very good indeed. All the floors are covered, some of the rooms with carpets, but most with straw matting. The bed linen was all in good order.
There are sixteen hundred acres of land in the property, 105 of which is good arable land. There are twenty acres of orchard, bearing apples, pears, plums, prunes, peaches, figs, grapes, and English and black walnuts. There are thirty acres of alfalfa. We were much pleased with the fruit that we saw. At the time of our first visit there were many workers on the ground taking care of the prunes, some gathering the fruit and others preparing it for drying. Forty-five tons of prunes have been gathered from the orchard this year.--Letter 114, 1909.
The large corn barn was filled to the roof with the best of lucerne [alfalfa] hay harvested from the land. In the carriage house we saw eight buggies and wagons. There were twenty milk cows, thirteen horses, and six colts included in the trade....
We are thankful for the abundant supply of pure water flowing from numerous springs, and thrown into large tanks by three hydraulic rams; also for the good buildings, for the good farmland, and for the hundreds of acres of woodland, on which there are many thousands of feet of saw timber. We are thankful also for the machinery which is all in such good order, for the furniture, which though it is not fine, is good and substantial; for the fruit that is canned and dried, and which will be much appreciated by teachers and students this first year of school....
We need have no fear of drinking impure water, for here it is supplied freely to us from the Lord's treasure house [300,000 gallons a day]. I do not know how to be grateful enough for these many advantages, but feel like putting my whole trust in the Lord, and as long as my life is spared to glorify my Redeemer.--Letter 110, 1909.
Now I have tried to describe this place to you, though I have not seen it as fully as some others. I was a very sick woman on the day that I visited the property, and was not able to climb more than one flight of stairs in the main building. I did not dare to excite my heart by over exertion. But it was thought best that I should visit the place as soon as possible and pass my judgment on it as a site for our school. I am very pleased with the place; it has many advantages as a school location....
When we learned that we were not going to be able to secure the Sonoma property, an assurance was given me that a better place was provided for us, where we could have many advantages over our first selection. As I have looked over this property, I pronounce it to be superior in many respects. The school could not be located in a better spot....
In Prof. C. W. Irwin and wife we have excellent workers. Professor Irwin will be the principal of the school.-- Ibid.
On the following Sunday, September 12, a phone call came from Oakland, where the camp meeting was being held. The discussion of the new college was slated to come up the next day. Could Ellen White come?
Indeed she could. She went down Monday morning and that afternoon spoke for twenty minutes on the advantages of the Angwin site. There was no legal action needed, since the purchasing committee--Elders Knox, Cottrell, and Haskell--had, at the Fresno camp meeting a year before, been given power to act. Ellen White's address went far to confirm the faith of the people in the new project and ensure that their pledges would be paid off (Pacific Union Recorder, September 23, 1909; Manuscript 59, 1909).
When the right time came, how quickly things fitted together! Everyone was anxious to find a good school site and get the work going. There was a conditioning period for nearly a year as principles were reviewed and sites inspected and money raised. Guidance came through the Spirit of Prophecy, but responsible men were not relieved of diligent study, tireless seeking, and the making of decisions.
The Angwin resort property was not on the market when the search for a new school site was entered upon. The repeated delays held everything in abeyance until the ideal property became available. Then, with money in hand, the fully equipped and stocked Angwin property was purchased with confidence, and within a very few weeks the school was ready for opening in late September. It was capable of caring for 150 students. Everything was on hand, just ready to put into use. All considered it providential. Of the experience Ellen White wrote, "Now this lesson given us at this time of our great necessity was one of the most remarkable adventures in our experience."--Letter 187, 1909.
But there were some who did not see it that way. They were the few businessmen who in the hope of large returns from land speculation--in spite of counsel not to do so--had purchased large tracts of land of mediocre quality near the Buena Vista property.
Faculty and Staff
The faculty and staff for the new school were quickly assembled. Ellen White, at the General Conference in Washington, had urged that C. W. Irwin, for eight years the principal of the Avondale school in Australia, be released from his work there and kept on in the States to head the new college. Church leaders concurred in this, and Professor Irwin stayed by, ready to head the new school when a site was found and school could begin.
The editor of the Signs of the Times, Elder Oscar Tait, a man of broad experience, was prevailed upon to become Bible teacher. Others, seasoned and capable men and women, were drawn in. When school opened on Wednesday, September 29, fifty students were ready to begin classes. The dedication of the new college on that day, with services held in the dance hall, which could seat 200, was an impressive and joyous occasion. Ellen White was there and was one of the speakers. In her twenty-minute address she said:
There is a time coming when God will let it be understood that His people are preferred before transgressors, and we need to stand in a position where it can be seen that our dependence is upon God. Then the Lord will open ways before us that we do not now discern--ways by which He will exalt and honor us. I believe we have seen this in the case of our school location.
She reviewed briefly the experience in attempts to secure the Buena Vista property, then continued:
During the time of waiting I did not feel discouraged. I felt that the Lord knew all about our perplexities and our needs. When I would kneel before Him in prayer, I would say, "Lord, You know all about it; You know we have done what we could to secure a school property; You know that our plans have been broken up. We have waited long; now, Lord, give us the place that we should have." And when the word came that this place was found, I said, "The Lord has prepared the way for us."
We are very grateful to the Lord of hosts for this possession, for we have here just what we hoped to have in the Buena Vista estate.... God wanted us here, and He has placed us here. I was sure of this as I came upon these grounds.... The Lord designed this place for us, and ... it has been the work of His providence that has brought it into our possession.--Manuscript 65, 1909.
And indeed all recognized that the Lord had done just that.