The home on the little farm on West Dry Creek Road was several miles from the town of Healdsburg. Mrs. White wanted to be close to the college. Early in August she bought a two-story house on Powell Street, which bordered the town. It stood on a 21/2-acre tract of good land with an orchard of fruit trees of choice varieties. As the college's “boardinghouse” was under construction, her house was at once fitted up to board the carpenters. A heavy yield of plums and peaches was canned for the college and the Health Retreat at St. Helena. W. C. White reported that “Mother engaged in this work with great interest, saying, in answer to our cautions, that it was a rest to her weary brain” (The Review and Herald, September 26, 1882). When she was on the West Coast, this was her home until she went to Australia in 1891. 3BIO 202.6
In late August, while in Oakland, Ellen White suffered a severe chill followed by fever. This serious illness lasted several weeks. As she began to recover, she pleaded to be taken to the Health Retreat at St. Helena. She was taken there on September 15 in a reclining wheelchair in the baggage cars of the two trains in which the journey was made. But she did not improve at the Retreat. As the time for the California camp meeting to be held at Healdsburg drew near, she pleaded to be taken back to her Healdsburg home. She hoped to be strong enough to bear her testimony at the camp meeting and to work for the support of the new school. Resting on a mattress in the back of a carriage driven by her son Willie, and accompanied by Jennie Ings, she started out on the trip to Healdsburg. 3BIO 203.1
The day grew very warm. As W. C. White later recounted the experience to members of his family, he told how his mother, in time, failed to answer his questions; he knew she had lapsed into unconsciousness. He urged the horses on, hoping to reach Healdsburg with his mother still alive. They did, and in her own home she rallied a bit. It was her hope and the hope of her family that in the environment of the camp meeting she might experience a renewal of life and strength. Camp meeting opened in early October in a grove about half a mile from her home. Although very feeble and hardly able to leave her bed, at noon on the first Sabbath she gave instruction: 3BIO 203.2
Prepare me a place in the large tent where I can hear the speaker. Possibly the sound of the speaker's voice will prove a blessing to me. I am hoping for something to bring new life.—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 262. 3BIO 203.3