As early as the summer of 1902 Mrs. White was urging the need for strong medical missionary work to be carried forward in southern California, a burden that she had carried on her heart for some months. To the General Conference president she wrote on September 5: "Brother Daniells, constantly the Lord is keeping southern California before me as a place where we must establish medical institutions. Every year this region is visited by many thousands of tourists. Sanitariums must be established in this section of the state."--Ellen G. White Letter 138, 1902.
As a very practical encouragement in such moves was the assurance that instead of being obliged to purchase land and to build at large cost, there might be found unusual bargains of suitable structures already built. "For months," she wrote, "the Lord has given me instruction that He is preparing the way for our people to obtain possession, at little cost, of properties on which there are buildings that can be utilized in our work."--Ellen G. White Letter 153, 1902.
Mrs. White's Encouragement
At the time these two statements were written in letters Mrs. White had just completed and sent to the printers the manuscript for Testimonies for the Church, Volume VII. Her burden for the medical missionary work of the denomination at this time is indicated by the fact that more than one fourth of the instruction in this volume was devoted to sanitarium, restaurant, and health food work. This was at the time when, following the fire of 1902, the Battle Creek Sanitarium was being rebuilt. In connection with the call for a strong medical work in southern California, the instruction so often given in former years was repeated--there should be, not one large institution, but smaller plants in many places. Of this she wrote:
"Medical missionary work in southern California is not to be carried forward by the establishment of one mammoth institution. ... As soon as possible, sanitariums are to be established in different places in southern California. Let a beginning be made in several places."--Testimonies for the Church 7:96, 97.
Two years prior to this (in 1900) Mrs. White had returned from Australia. While there she had been led to give constant counsel regarding educational work and how it should be conducted, in an effort to build up the Avondale School as an institution that should be a model to others, and that would point the way to principles that had been but imperfectly adopted by other of our denominational schools. Now, in God's providence, it seems that for a period of seven or eight years she was to be divinely led in an endeavor to guide in the working out in southern California of the principles upon which Seventh-day Adventist sanitariums should be conducted. Early counsels regarding the purposes of these institutions were repeated, and added instruction was given calculated to guard against some of the mistakes that had marred the work in the past. There was decided counsel, not that the work was to be either interdenominational or un-denominational, but to the contrary:
Established for One Object
"Our sanitariums are to be established for one object--the advancement of present truth. And they are to be so conducted that a decided impression in favor of the truth will be made on the minds of those who come to them for treatment. The conduct of the workers, from the head manager to the worker occupying the humblest position, is to tell on the side of truth. ... We have a warning message to bear to the world, and our earnestness, our devotion to God's service, is to impress those who come to our sanitariums."--Ibid., 97.
"Many smaller sanitariums in many places"; the search for "properties for sale, on which buildings suitable for sanitarium work are already erected"; "now is our opportunity to reach the invalids flocking to the health resorts of southern California"; "soon the reputation of the health resorts in southern California will stand even higher than it stands at present"--such phrases, culled from a single page (Ibid., 98), were amplified and emphasized, iterated and reiterated by her pen and voice.
Following the camp meeting in Los Angeles in September, 1902, Mrs. White greatly rejoiced as she visited a newly acquired school property at San Fernando. It had been purchased for $10,000--less than one fourth of its original cost. Thus was secured the first of such properties for the promotion of medical work as she had been instructed would be found.
Following the visit to San Fernando, Mrs. White and her associates went to San Diego. To Paradise Valley, a few miles from the city, they were taken to look over a property of about twenty acres of land, on which was erected a three-story building that had been built as a sanitarium and opened for patients in 1888. Much money had been spent on the property, and the grounds were beautified with shrubbery and rare shade trees. There were groves of orange, lemon, olive, and fig trees, also a vineyard and a garden of small fruits. The place had been used as a sanitarium but a short time, and then remained unoccupied for about fifteen years, while its owner, Dr. Anna M. Longshore Potts, traveled in the lecture field at home and abroad.
On being informed that the building alone had cost $25,000, that it was now offered for $12,000, and might be purchased for less, Mrs. White expressed her conviction that the Lord would place the property in our possession.
Negotiating for the Property
For a period of about eighteen months after this there were negotiations with the agents of the property at Paradise Valley. The prices were lowered from time to time, until early in 1904 the place was offered for $4,000.
Even at this price the Southern California Conference hesitated about securing the property. A prolonged drought in the region was urged as one reason why it would be hazardous to conduct a sanitarium in the vicinity. With a faith born of conviction that the Lord was leading, Mrs. White borrowed $2,000 from the bank, and with Mrs. Josephine Gotzian made the payment that closed the bargain. It was held and operated for a time by a stock company.
The Paradise Valley Sanitarium was purchased at just the right time. San Diego and vicinity began to take on new life and activity immediately after the opening of the institution, and have steadily advanced ever since. The long, severe drought which terminated in 1905 was valuable to this section, in that it drove the people to develop an abundant supply of water, and taught them how to conserve it when developed. A new continental railroad, with terminus in San Diego and running within two miles of the sanitarium, now gives the place a direct connection with the eastern states. All these considerations have caused great increase of valuation of property. Had we delayed longer, the property would have been beyond our reach. In fact, when the papers were finally signed, thereby closing the deal, there was en route from New York a letter offering $6,000 for the property.
Taken Over by the Conference
Elder E.R. Palmer, who, for health reasons, had spent the winter in Arizona, accepted an invitation to act as business manager of the new institution. There was much work to be done during the summer in preparing the place for opening, but the great question was, "Could water be found?" The success or failure of the enterprise largely depended upon this. A well was dug, with meager results at first; but in November, 1904, a stream of clear, pure water poured into the excavation. Dr. T.S. Whitelock, who had been operating treatment rooms and a restaurant in the city of San Diego, acted as medical superintendent at first; and other helpers were found, so that by the latter part of the year it was opened for patients.
Six years later the institution was taken over by the Southern California Conference. It had been equipped and operated through the self-sacrifice of a few heavy investors and the liberality and support of the believers in the neighboring churches. The stockholders, who had from the first considered that they were but holding the property in trust, gladly turned over the institution, without profit to themselves, to be operated by the local conference.
With an indebtedness of nearly $40,000 resting upon the Southern California Conference, with a constituency of only about 1,100 members, and with the enthusiastic launching by the General Conference of a no-debt policy, one can readily understand the reluctance of those responsible for the conduct of the work to enter into new enterprises that called for the raising of other thousands of dollars. It was truly a test of faith, therefore, when the messages continued to come, urging the securing and establishment of sanitariums in several places.
No sooner was the Paradise Valley Sanitarium secured than Mrs. White began to send instruction that a sanitarium should be secured and operated near Los Angeles. Under date of April 26, 1904, she wrote:
"It is the Lord's purpose that sanitariums shall be established in southern California, and that from these institutions shall go forth the light of truth for this time. ...
"Light has been given me that a sanitarium should be established near Los Angeles, in some rural district. For years the need of such an institution has been kept before our people in southern California. Had the brethren there heeded the warnings given by the Lord, to guard them from making mistakes, they would not now be tied up as they are. But they have not followed the instruction given. They have not gone forward in faith to establish a sanitarium near Los Angeles."--Special Testimonies, Series B, 3:13.
For Another Sanitarium
The day after writing the foregoing, Mrs. White again wrote, seeking most earnestly to arouse to action. She stated that the establishment of a sanitarium near Los Angeles was "the expressed will of God." It was a great mystery to her "why this work should be delayed from year to year." She had heartily supported the General Conference leaders in their purpose not only to reduce institutional indebtedness, but to create no new debts. Yet she recognized the danger in the extreme application of this principle. She stated that "the idea that a sanitarium should not be established unless it could be started free from debt has put the brake upon the wheels of progress," and referred to her own experience in "borrowing money and paying interest on it, to establish schools and sanitariums and to build meetinghouses." She justified this course by the results in winning many to the truth, thus increasing the tithe and adding workers "to the Lord's forces."--Ibid., 14, 15.
"Will my brethren consider this," she added, "and work in accordance with the light God has given us? Let that which should be done be done without delay. Do your best to remedy the neglect of the past. The word has come once more that a sanitarium is to be set in working order near Los Angeles. ... From the light given me when I was in Australia, and renewed since I came to America [in 1900], I know that our work in southern California must advance more rapidly. The people flocking to that place in search of health must hear the last message of mercy."--Ibid., 15, 16.
In Glendale, one of the suburbs of Los Angeles, a property was found, with about five acres of land, on which was a commodious three-story building. Originally erected for a school, and later known as the Glendale Hotel, it represented an investment of about $50,000, and was at first offered to our brethren for $26,000. Later, the price was reduced to $17,500; and at length, in the summer of 1904, soon after the foregoing letters were written, the owner donated all but $12,000.
Seeing that the Southern California Conference hesitated to take a step that would, they felt, greatly increase the financial perplexities of the conference, two or three persons of faith advanced $1,000 to bind the bargain, and assumed the entire responsibility. After the place had been thus purchased, the question of its future was brought before the Southern California Conference in their annual session early in September, 1904. After thorough discussion, they voted to purchase the property for the Glendale Sanitarium. About $5,000 in cash and pledges was raised for early payments, and in a few months the institution was furnished and ready for work.
For Winning Souls
In expressing her gratitude to God for the opening of this second sanitarium in southern California, and referring to its being representative of the places that God had reserved at low cost for such work, Mrs. White urged those connected with the institution to "keep in mind the purpose for which this property has been secured." She said:
"The institution is to act a special part in bringing souls to Christ, leading them to love God and keep His commandments. Unless the workers have a living connection with God, unless there is seen in the institution a spirit of kindness and compassion, which will recommend Bible truth and win souls to Christ, the establishment of the sanitarium will have been in vain. Spiritual as well as physical healing is to be brought to those who come for healing."--E. G. White Letter 97, 1905.