THE PACIFIC COAST by Uriah Smith

California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists · OAKLAND, CAL. · Dec 31, 1874

THE PACIFIC COAST.

By Uriah Smith

In 1868, Elders J. N. Loughborough and D. T. Bourdeau were sent by the General Conference on a mission to California, and, with a large tent taken with them, commenced the work. From this point the cause of Seventh-day Adventism has grown quite rapidly on that coast. In 1872, Eld. White and wife visited that State, and aided in organizing a State Conference. They again visited California in the latter part of 1873, remaining until August, 1874. On this last visit, perceiving that the growing cause in that distant locality needed a medium of communication nearer than the publishing house in Michigan, Eld. W. commenced in Oakland, Cal., the publication of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, the first number of which was issued June 4, 1874. It was started as a weekly the same size as the Review and Herald. The wants of the cause, and the action of the General Conference of Aug. 10, 1874, calling Bro. W. east, the California Conference assumed the publication of the SIGNS. At their camp-meeting at Yountville, Oct. 1-12, 1874, nineteen thousand dollars were pledged for this purpose.

As indicating the progress of the cause in California, it may be stated that, at the camp-meeting just referred to, there were some 85 tents pitched, and at the height of the meeting nearly six hundred Sabbath-keepers upon the ground. The churches belonging to this Conference now number fourteen.

A mission is now progressing encouragingly in Oregon and Washington Territory, under the management of Eld. I. D. Van Horn and wife.

THE EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY.

The subject of education among S. D. Adventists, and the founding of a denominational school, was brought to the attention of this people by Eld. James White and wife, in the early part of 1872, and several meetings, at their call, were held in Battle Creek, Mich., May 11, 1872, the matter was put into the hands of the General Conference Committee, who, during the summer and autumn of 1873, solicited subscriptions to this enterprise, obtaining pledges for over fifty-four thousand dollars.

March 16, 1874, an association was formed, under the law of Michigan "for the incorporation of institutions of learning," and ground was broken, in May, for the erection of a suitable school building. The site is a beautiful plot of twelve acres, in the highest part of the city, opposite the grounds of the Health Institute. The building, of brick, 37 by 78, with two hall wings, each 17 by 37, three stories high, capable of accommodating between four and five hundred students, will be ready for use Jan. 1, 1875.

The school itself has been in progress, in such accommodations as it could secure, some two years. U. S.