Loma Linda, The Hill Beautiful

Place: Elmshaven, living room.

Time: April 1905.

Those present: Ellen G. White; W. C. White; John Burden; the president of the California Conference; and one of his committee members.WV 464.6

Ellen White: “There is a sanitarium waiting near Riverside or Redlands, nearer Redlands, I think. You can find it if you really want to.” (See DF8, J. A. Burden, “The Location and Development of Loma Linda,” p. 96.)WV 464.7

In response to repeated messages from Ellen White, a committee was appointed to look for such a site. They felt it must be the Loma Linda resort hotel they had visited earlier, but as it carried a price tag of $85,000, they had turned from it. Now the hotel had failed and closed up on April 1; the committee found it could be bought for $45,000.WV 464.8

Elder Burden had hoped that Mrs. White, on her way to attend the 1905 General Conference session in Washington, would be able to stop long enough in Los Angeles to hear what they had learned about the Loma Linda property. Her party included her son W. C. White, his wife, May; and Maggie Hare. On Thursday, May 4, when the eastbound train stopped at the Los Angeles station, a few of the brethren, including Elder Burden, boarded the car to tell Mrs. White about Loma Linda. She was immediately interested and excitedly urged, “Look up all the particulars and write me at once in Washington” (Ibid.).WV 465.1

The conference-bound party reached Washington on Tuesday morning, May 9. The session opened Thursday morning. Friday afternoon, May 12, the promised letter describing Loma Linda was placed in Ellen White's hands.WV 465.2

She read it aloud to her son W. C. White. It read, in part:WV 465.3

I am sending you a little pamphlet that contains a few views and a brief description of the property, but words and pictures can but faintly describe its beauty. It is simply ideal and grand for a sanitarium.WV 465.4

The buildings are in excellent condition, well furnished, heated with steam heat, and lighted with electricity. Everything is complete to begin business at once. The main building has forty-six rooms, and there are four cottages having four rooms each, with bath and toilet. Three of these cottages have four porches each, with broad windows, so that beds can be wheeled right out on the porch and patients can sleep in the open air. There is another beautiful building—a two-story cottage of nine rooms, with bath and toilet. Another building which has been used as a recreation pavilion, and has four nice rooms, would make a fine gymnasium and chapel.WV 465.5

There are barns and sheds, and a house for the workmen. There are ten acres (four hectares) of good bearing orange orchard, fifteen acres (six hectares) of alfalfa, eight acres (three hectares) of apricots, plums, and almonds. The rest of the grounds are beautifully laid out in lawns, drives, and walks, there being more than a mile of cement walk. The principal buildings are on a beautiful knoll about 125 feet (38 meters) above the valley. The main building is surrounded with pepper-wood trees from thirty to forty feet (12 meters) high.WV 465.6

There are five horses, four cows, 150 chickens, thirty-five turkeys, some hogs, farm implements, buggies, carriages, and wagons.WV 465.7

The place has an ample supply of water from the mountains. An artesian well, which has a good pumping plant, yields an abundance of water, if for any reason the mountain water should fail. The water is piped all over the seventy-six acres (30 hectares).WV 466.1

The place cost the present owners $150,000. They have tried to run it as a tourist hotel, but it was a failure, and they lost money, so it was closed the first of April. The stockholders are financially embarrassed, and have ordered the property sold for $40,000. The furnishings in the building cost $12,000, and have been used for only about two years and a half.WV 466.2

A number of us went to see the place today, and we were deeply impressed that this is the place which the Lord has shown you, near Redlands and Riverside, in which sanitarium work should be carried on. It is five miles (eight kilometers) from Redlands.WV 466.3

The question is, what shall we do? We must act at once, for the company is anxious to sell, and there are others who want it....WV 466.4

We do not wish to move hastily, and we should like to hear from you and the brethren in Washington who have gone from this field, as to how you and they feel about the matter. I wish that if it is at all possible you would take the matter up in council with them, and have them wire us. I do not know how long we can hold the offer open, but will try to do so until we hear from you (J. A. Burden to EGW, May 7, 1905 [Special Testimonies, Series B 3:33-35]).WV 466.5

When she finished reading she told Willie that she believed the place was the one that had been presented to her several years before (28 WCW, p. 442).WV 466.6

The terms offered Elder Burden were $5,000 down and like amounts in August (due July 26), September (due August 26), and December (due December 31), making $20,000. The remaining $20,000 would come due in three years (The Story of Our Health Message, 349, 350).WV 466.7

What could they do? Elder Burden in California wanted an immediate answer. Conference officers and Ellen White were across the continent in Washington, D.C. It seemed that there could not have been a more inopportune time to deal with such a weighty and far-reaching matter. All in Washington were deeply involved in the General Conference session that had just opened. The Southern California Conference with 1,332 members was now involved in an indebtedness of about $75,000, stemming from the recently acquired San Fernando College and Glendale Sanitarium, the longer-established vegetarian restaurant and treatment rooms in Los Angeles, and the health food business there.WV 466.8

Three weeks earlier, at the Southern California constituency meeting, a new president had been chosen—a good man, but far from a seasoned executive. He had been charged to hold the line as far as indebtedness was concerned. The General Conference, too, was facing almost overwhelming financial problems. There was the possibility of having to raise between $75,000 and $90,000 to meet the deficit of the old medical association. So there was little to encourage the hope of help from that source.WV 466.9